Collect 2008 sales

'1000 openings' (varying dimensions) by Martin & Dowling; Photo: Martin & Dowling, 2006-2007

Collect: the international art fair for contemporary objects staged at the V&A, London, from 25 to 29 January 2008 attracted over 10,000 visitors (up 11%) with sales well over £1 million and more anticipated in the next few months as well as a number of exciting commissions.

Organisers of Collect the Crafts Council UK, are delighted that exhibitors at the fifth Collect enjoyed a very successful fair.

Firmly established as the most prestigious event of its kind worldwide, Collect provides a unique opportunity to buy the most desirable and collectible contemporary craft from around the world. Oliver Makower of Bishopsland Educational Trust explained that “Interest in contemporary art is gaining strength all the time, museums like the V&A understand this and support us…today’s collectors are tomorrow’s donors”.

Bishopsland has exhibited at Collect for five consecutive years and is thrilled with the sales which included hand-crafted gold pots by Rod Kelly which sold for around £9,500 to a private buyer from the city. Joanna Bird, another regular exhibitor at Collect, is thrilled that 26 pieces of her pottery have been snapped up this year. One of the monumental pots from Clare Beck at Adrian Sassoon was bought by The Art Fund for mima (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) for £25,263.

Newcomer to Collect this year, The Glassery, a Swedish gallery, was pleased to report a number of sales including a Furious Bowl made of hand-blown glass and white fox fur, which sold to a UK private collector for about £2,500. Another new exhibitor was West Dean Tapestry Studio from West Sussex. Citrus Sinthensis, inspired by a 15th century tapestry, sold to the Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead for £7,695. Clearly expanding their textile collection, the Shipley Art Gallery also bought an Audrey Walker textile piece for £2,400 from The Gallery, Ruthin Craft Centre in Wales.

The Devon Guild of Craftsmen also sold a number of items to new clients, but was particularly pleased that, within 30 minutes of the doors’ opening, a new collector commissioned a table by Robert Kilvington.

Exhibiting for the third time at Collect, the Alternatives Gallery from Italy sold many one-off pieces of jewellery mainly to new collectors, while Galerie Terra Delft were pleased to have sold one of their key pieces, Man with Sheephead by Carolein Smit, to a private collector for £6,750.

Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director of the Crafts Council, said: “We are delighted that Collect 2008 was such a great success with many of the galleries selling to new collectors. The Crafts Council is committed to developing the market for contemporary craft through the Collect art fair and the popularity of Collect over the last five years proves this is a healthy and growing market.”

Notes to Editors

• The independent selection committee for Collect 2008 comprised: David Barrie
(Director of Art Fund), Emma Crichton-Miller (freelance journalist), Alun Graves
(Curator in the Department of Sculpture, Ceramics and Glass at the V&A), Andrew
Renton (Head of Applied Art, National Museum Wales), Jorunn Veiteberg PhD
(Professor of Craft Theory at Bergen National College of Arts).

• The Crafts Council is the national agency for contemporary crafts. The Crafts Council aims to position the UK as the best place in the world for making, seeing and collecting contemporary craft.

• For further information about the Crafts Council visit About us

• The Crafts Council is funded by Arts Council England. The Arts Council works to get more art to more people in more places by developing and promoting the arts across England and acting as an independent body at arm’s length from government. For 2006 to 2008, Arts Council England have six priorities: taking part in the arts, children and young people, the creative economy, vibrant communities, internationalism and celebrating diversity.

For images or other media enquiries about the Crafts Council please contact Jill Read, telephone: 020 7806 2549 or email: j_read@craftscouncil.org.uk or media@craftscouncil.org.uk