Buy/ Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair/ 4-7 October 2012
General Information
Winner of the Small Tourism Event of the Year category at the 2011 Manchester Tourism Awards, the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair champions and promotes high quality, cutting edge contemporary craft, showcasing the latest work in textiles, wood & furniture, lighting, mixed media, metal, jewellery, glass, ceramics, basketry and paper.
The event is filled with new and established makers and also plays host to the best emerging talent from across the north. Visitors, including retailers, curators, interior designers, collectors, media and the general public, have a unique opportunity to see and buy beautiful handmade pieces and talk to the designers about their work and influences.
Hothouse alumni
This year will also see a dedicated stand to showcase works from 13 alumni of the Craft Council’s Hothouse programme. The makers include:
Ceramics
• Claire Baker
• Zoe Lloyd
• Anna Collette Hunt
Jewellery
• Aimee Betts
• Eleanor Bolton
• Jane Dzisiewski
• Carly Petitt-Taylor
• Ros Millar
Silversmithing
• Hannah Felicity Dennis
Textiles
• Emma Bradbury
• Helen Foot
• Rose Sharpe-Jones
• Amy Bear
Ann-Marie Franey and Angela Mann are the organisers behind this Manchester success story. “We’re thrilled to be setting the wheels in motion for our fifth show. Every year, the number of applications we receive increases making it tough on the selection panel but we’re excited to finally reveal our inspiring line-up of designer-makers for this year’s show,” said Ann-Marie.
“The motivation behind the event comes from our personal passion for contemporary craft and our love of the North. We hope visitors find pieces to treasure, from the functional to the purely aesthetic and enjoy the experience of buying them direct from the people who made them,” continued Angela.
A fine selection
This year’s exhibitors have been carefully selected by an esteemed panel of judges including Andrea Nixon, Executive Director of Tate Liverpool; Professor David Sanderson, Professor of Ceramic Design at Staffordshire University; Hannah Obee, Special Collections Curator at Chatsworth House; Moira Stephenson, collector and former Director of Manchester Art Gallery and Ellie Tennant, freelance interiors journalist.
The full list of 150 exhibitors attending this year’s Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair can now be found here.
For further information on the show, visit www.greatnorthernevents.co.uk, Facebook at www.facebook.com/GNCCF and Twitter @GNCCF
Ticketing Information
Admission on the door is £7 (£6 concessions) and a weekend ticket is £10 (£8 concessions) allowing multiple visits over the duration of the event, excluding opening evening on Thursday 4 October. Children under 16 are free if accompanied by an adult.
Tickets can be purchased on the door
