Win Tickets to The Contemporary Craft Festival

Set in idyllic surrounding at the edge of Dartmoor, The Contemporary Craft Festival is brimming with opportunities to meet and buy work directly from nearly 200 of your favourite or newly-found makers.  Craftspeople from across Devon and the whole of the UK get together for a celebration of craft and making.

A brand new feature this year, is the fair showcasing emerging makers and giving these young businesses some support in their early years. Just 20 businesses have been hand picked to be part of this new, exciting development.

The Craft Festival will be hosting The Great Windsor Chair Race, a collective of some the UK’s most exciting, award winning furniture designers, getting back to basics making Windsor Chairs, featuring Gareth Neal, Chris Eckersley, Carl Clerkin and William Warren. Who can make the most chairs over the weekend? It's a test of speed and skill as only the best will win! The Blacksmithing Guild will also be there for the first time and both these light hearted competitions will celebrate the Cultural Olympiad in style. Completing the line up of Champions of Craft will be demonstrations of ceramics, glass blowing, stone carving, weaving, knitting, spoon carving, blacksmithing, furniture making & calligraphy.

The Children’s Craft Tent is inspired by the textile collection at The Royal Albert Museum in Exeter. Children will learn to weave, print, knit & paint on cloth complimented by a variety of workshops for adults.

For a chance to win a pair of tickets, simply answer this question.

Where is The Contemporary Craft Festival held? Please put your answer in the header and email to craftfair@craftsatboveytracey.co.uk.

The Contemporary Craft Festival, Mill Marsh Park, Bovey Tracey, Devon, UK
15-17 June 2012
Open: 10am-5pm daily
Adult daily ticket £7, concession £6
Adult weekend ticket £12, concessions £10, Accompanied Under 14s FREE

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Grand Designs Live

Grand Designs Live is currently on at ExCel in London and runs until 13 May. We'd never been before, so thought we'd make the effort, especially as for the first time, the show was incorporating a Grand Art Fair. The show is enormous! With a garden section, home and interiors section, eco ideas display, swimming pools, talks, workshops, the whole shebang!  Every appliance maker you can name was there showing off their latest technology. Samsung were blasting!

The design alley had many great exhibitors, including Johnathan Field's beautiful furniture, Obe and Co's Lighting, and MADE12 exhibitor Lara Aldridge Glass.

The Grand Art Fair comprised 18 galleries, all showing a fantastic and pretty eclectic mix of work. Eyestorm had some big names, but Olivia Connelley's collection of vibrant work and The Drugstore Gallery's photography both really caught my eye. It seemed rather ambitious to have such high qualilty art in this kind of show's environment, but I hope that Grand Designs Live worked for all the galleries there.

If you're fanatical about your home, then the show is really worth visiting for all kinds of ideas, gadgets and interior products. For me the only thing I was left coveting was an Armadilla. It's now top of my wish list.

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MADE LONDON - DEADLINE TODAY

The deadline for applications to MADE LONDON - The Design and Craft Fair is midnight tonight.
(we extended it by a day as we didn't realise that there was a bank holiday)

We've had an absolutely amazing response from makers across the UK, Europe and beyond. The number of applications so far is heading towards 400 and I have to say the standard overall is exceptional. Selection is going to be near impossible but I know the show will look fantastic.

We don't make any decisions until after the deadline and we've looked at every application - so you have till midnight to get an application in - use the online system (just make sure your images aren't too big)

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Design and Making Video (From Danish Crafts website)

An interesting video from Danish Crafts website about why crafts matters and the role and direction craft is increasingly taking.

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craft&design Selected Awards Announced

The 2012 craft&design Selected Awards have now been announced - all winners can be seen here

Textile designer Louise Gardiner was the overall winner of the Selected Maker of the Year 2012 with her beautiful contemporary embroidery.

We are delighted that a few of the winners including Nick Ozanne and Samantha Bryan will be exhibiting with us at MADE12 in Brighton in November. Many congratulations!

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MADE LONDON - photos of the venue

We've been asked by some prospective exhibitors to MADE LONDON - The Design and Craft Fair to put up some photos of the spaces at One Marylebone. 

So below are some snaps of the venue. The photo's of the downstairs areas are a bit rough because it is a building site. If you are interested in exhibiting at www.madelondon.org please look at the photo's in conjunction with the plans on the application form download.

Soane Hall

 

 

Soane Hall Mosaics and Stained Glass

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Wallpaper - Handmade issue

It's Wallpaper Magazine's Handmade Issue and they commissioned this video celebrating the art of the bespoke tailor. Hope you like! (actually the blog design is cutting off some of the screen - might be best to click here)

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