Each quarter designers from the Network or industry experts are invited to Craft Central to share their experiences. It’s a fantastic networking opportunity to mingle with fellow designer makers and knowledgeable sector professionals.

Over the last 18 years Emily Jo Gibbs has established an international reputation for her exquisite work. Between 1993 and 2005 Emily Jo Gibbs built her luxury handbags business, based in the UK but with an international market including the USA and Japan. The majority of sales were couture handbags to a wholesale international fashion market, a proportion to galleries and museums including the Crafts Council and the V&A and also to private collectors. In 2005 Emily Jo Gibbs changed direction from serving predominantly a fashion market to serve a contemporary craft market. The aim was to grow and nurture the part of the business selling direct to collectors, to make bodies of work that had greater longevity and meaning.