Midas Contemporary Applied Arts was founded in 1999 by Dee Barnes who had previously founded the highly successful Bothy Gallery at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield and the Marble Gallery at the Bankfield Museum in Halifax. Work that is shown in the gallery is chosen only if it is of the highest quality and is made by a British based maker. As well as a permanent display of crafts the gallery has a programme of exhibitions planned, it is intended to have four exhibitions each year on a variety of themes.