Origin at London Design Festival
Origin: The London Craft Fair established contemporary craft within the London Design Festival this year, as international visitors from all over the globe descended on the event in their droves.
Art and craft buyers, retailers and design professionals mingled with members of the public, for this rare opportunity to see and buy the diverse range of high quality, original craft on offer in one vibrant location.
From ceramics, furniture, metalwork and glass, to fashion accessories, jewellery, and knitwear, makers discussed their work and took orders and commissions from private individuals, art-dealers and high-end stores such as Harvey Nichols, Missoni Home and Osborne & Little; as well as from museums and galleries including Tate, V&A, Barbican and Haunch of Venison.
‘I received an order from a gallery in Beirut and have an exhibition planned in Germany at Craft2eu, Europe’s finest arts and crafts gallery as a result of contacts made at Origin’. Maya Selway, silversmith and jeweller.
‘I sold most of my work through private sales and took some good commissions. I even had two customers tell me they’d come over from Italy and America specifically to buy my work’. Rebecca Coles, paper artist.
‘I had a fabulous commission from Singapore and interest from galleries in Ireland and Germany’. Jan Hinchcliffe McCutcheon, jewellery designer.
This year Origin was presented by Tent London for the Crafts Council. Tent London Co-Director, Jimmy MacDonald comments ‘Origin and the audience it attracts shows that there is huge international interest in contemporary craft.’
Origin 2010 attracted over 17,500 visitors over the one week with sales exceeding £700,000 at the close of the fair.
By bringing Origin into the London Design Festival the event has been introduced to a new audience. Concentrating the event into one week proved a more effective way for the makers to gain exposure to the maximum number of visitors. We were really pleased with sales and the number of new visitors.’ Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director, Crafts Council.
‘I was so pleased to hear about the inclusion of Origin into the London Design Festival programme. It seemed like a win-win situation where visitors spending the day at Tent could see something completely different, and Origin exhibitors had the opportunity to introduce themselves to what must have been a whole new potential market. It was the perfect manifestation of this design / craft crossover which has been in the air for some time now.’ David Nicholls, Design Editor, Telegraph Magazine
‘There is now a huge appetite for craft within the design community. Having Origin as part of the London Design Festival reflects this, and brings new audiences together. We are delighted that Origin was such a success this year; it’s an annual highlight for craft and design; staging during the Festival is a great boost’. William Knight, Deputy Director, London Design Festival
In addition to Origin 2010, other Crafts Council projects featured in the London Design Festival. At Tent London, touring exhibition Lab Craft: Digital adventures in contemporary craft previewed before its national tour, and at Few and Far, Brompton Road, the Crafts Council and Priscilla Carluccio partnered on Tables and Chairs: new contemporary voices in wood. Lab Craft provided a platform for debate around technology and how craft positions itself within current design issues, whilst Tables and Chairs forms part of an annual suite of retail showcases and commissioning opportunities aimed at challenging perceptions of contemporary craft.
For further information or high res images on Origin, please contact Jacky, David or Michelle at PR Girl – jacky@originuk.org, tel: 01273 722469.
Notes to Editors
Origin: The London Craft Fair 2010
Old Spitalfields Market, Spitalfields, Brushfield Street, London, E1 6EW
Dates: 23-29 September 2010.
www.originuk.org
Origin was launched in 2006, replacing the Chelsea Crafts Fair as the UK’s principal selling event for individual makers.
About the Crafts Council:
The Crafts Council’s goal is to make the UK the best place to make, see, collect and learn about contemporary craft. We believe that craft plays a dynamic and vigorous role in the UK’s social, economic and cultural life, and that the future of craft lies in nurturing talent. Find out more at www.craftscouncil.org.uk
The Crafts Council is supported by Arts Council England. Arts Council England works to get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people’s lives. As the national development agency for the arts, it supports a range of artistic activities from theatre to music, literature to dance, photography to digital art, and carnival to crafts. Between 2008 and 2011, Arts Council England will invest £1.3 billion of public money from government and a further £0.3 billion from the National Lottery to create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.
For press enquiries regarding the Crafts Council, please contact:
Jill Read, Press Officer
Tel: +44 (0)20 7806 2549
Email: media@craftscouncil.org.uk
About Tent London
Exhibition organiser Tent London was established in 2007 by Ian Rudge and Jimmy MacDonald, co-founders of 100% Design and 100% East respectively. The Tent London exhibition is the second largest design event of the London Design Festival attracting over 19,000 visitors to its venue in the Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane.
For press enquiries regarding Tent London, please contact Jacky, David or Michelle at PR Girl info@pr-girl.com, tel: 01273 722469.
