About the gallery

This winter we’ll be opening the doors on a new home for craft, the Crafts Council Gallery

Banner making for Processions, a mass participation artwork, led by Angela Maddock

Located on Pentonville Road, Crafts Council Gallery will celebrate the best of contemporary craft through a dynamic programme of exhibitions and events.

The gallery will be for anyone with an interest in craft – or a curiosity to know more. Craft can be clay pinch pots made by children, or extraordinary objects made by makers with years of experience. Anyone can craft.

At the gallery we will share the stories behind the craft, who makes and why, and give you a chance to have a go yourself.

Background

The Crafts Council Gallery was first established in 1973, as the Crafts Advisory Committee in Waterloo Place, London. It hosted exhibitions such as the annual Jerwood Applied Arts Prize and major surveys of North American and European jewellery, international basketry and Indian craft. It championed the work of studio potters Magdalene Odundo and Lucie Rie, and presented the intersections crafts and technology, fashion and contemporary art with shows such as Pattern Crazy and Glass, Light, Space. It also considered craft’s place within broader social context with shows such as The New Spirit in Craft and Design, which explored how a wave of young makers were responding to inner-city life and work.

Poster for Waterloo Place Gallery promoting the Crafts Advisory Committee's exhibitions and services, c.1980. The poster features a photograph of a handbuilt stoneware bowl with painted slip decoration by Elizabeth Fritsch from the Crafts Advisory Committee's Collection. Held in the Crafts Council Collection

In 2006, the gallery closed, and the Crafts Council focused on its programme of touring exhibitions, partnership projects, and on loaning its collection. With partner venues we took exhibitions such as Sound Matters, Acts of Making and Julie Cope’s Grand Tour to venues and audiences across the country. Craft found its place in the programme of regional partners in projects such as Lost in Lace, an exploration of textiles and space produced with Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and Build Your Own: Tools for Sharing with FACT, Liverpool and Norwich Castle Museum. For more information on our exhibitions and collection please see here.

A new home for craft

Situated in the same spot as we were from 1992 to 2006, the new Crafts Council Gallery has undergone a transformation. Following a major capital campaign, AOC Architecture Ltd led the redevelopment of both the interior and exterior spaces, completing work in 2020.

Under the project title ‘A Home for Craft’, we asked for a space which was open and accessible - a place for people to meet, make connections and spark debate. We asked for the space to be flexible, to play host to an evolving programme that will include partnerships and co-curation with the wider craft sector. We also wanted the ability to showcase our collection of 5,000 books and 1,700 objects, and for the public to be captivated by craft, which led to the commission of Sebastian Cox to design and make our beautiful study space shelving. We are delighted with our new home for craft, and look forward to sharing it with you.

The new Crafts Council Gallery interior, 2020. Photo courtesy Dave Grandorge
The new Crafts Council gallery interior, 2020, with bookcases by Sebastian Cox. Photo courtesy Dave Grandorge

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