Star makers who have played a part in the Crafts Council's 50-year history

13 December 2021

Celebrating trailblazing artists and craftspeople

13 December 2021

50th anniversary

When the Crafts Council – then known as the Crafts Advisory Committee – was founded in 1971, its two-pronged mission was to advise the government on the ‘needs of the artist craftsman’, while also igniting a nationwide interest in craft practices and products.

Since then, the world and the craft industry have changed immeasurably, but the Crafts Council’s commitment to supporting makers has remained constant.

Whether it be through adding work to our Collection, a start-up grant, or a career-changing feature in Crafts magazine, we're proud to have supported a network of creatives who have contributed to the craft world's growth. While we can't take any credit for the success of these extraordinarily talented people, it's been a pleasure to collaborate or connect with them at key points in their careers.

To celebrate our 50th anniversary, we’re looking back at some of the artists and makers who have been part of our journey.

Edmund de Waal. Photo: Tom Jamieson
Edmund de Waal's early work was profiled in the May/June 1995 issue of Crafts

Edmund de Waal

Artist and writer Edmund de Waal has had a varied and full career. Born in Nottingham, his craft beginnings started in Canterbury at The King’s School, where potter-in-residence Geoffrey Whiting took him on as an apprentice at the age of 16. Crafts magazine’s then-editor Margot Coatts had been following the young maker, and ran a profile on de Waal in the May/June 1995 issue, presenting some of his earliest work.

Many of his installations and exhibitions revolve around groupings of porcelain vessels, and for one of his biggest works in 2001, he arranged 650 pots upon the shelves inside London’s Museum of the Home. In 2004 de Waal exhibited at the very first edition of Collect, and reappeared at the fair in 2020, this time in conversation with curator, critic and Crafts' editor-at-large Glenn Adamson, discussing the meaning of craft today and its relationship to contemporary art. Today, de Waal is represented by the multinational Gagosian Gallery and by the Berlin-based Galerie Maz Hetzler.

Magdalene Odundo in her studio, ahead of the opening of her major retrospective at the Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield, in 2019. Photo: Alun Callender
Magdalene Odundo's graduate work (pictured bottom left) featured in Crafts magazine in 1976

Magdalene Odundo

The graduate collection of Magdalene Odundo – a ‘coil pot with handles and engraved decoration’ – was featured on the pages of Crafts in 1976, when she had just finished studying at the West Surrey College of Art and Design. Since then, Odundo has become one of the UK's most significant ceramicists. Her work is now held in the permanent collections of over 50 museums worldwide, including the Crafts Council Collection. In 2020, a vessel sold at auction for $268,000 – then the highest price paid for work by a living potter. In the US, her work is represented by Salon 94; in the UK, by gallerists Adrian Sassoon and Anthony Slayter-Ralph.

Ahead of Odundo's major retrospective at the Hepworth Gallery in 2019, and 43 years after her first appearance in the magazine, she was the subject of an in-depth profile in Crafts. The following year, she featured as the star of the Fielding Talk at Collect, discussing her work with Gus Casely-Hayford, director of the V&A East and columnist for Crafts magazine.

Junko Mori. Photo: Steve Speller
Propagation Project #105 by Junko Mori in 2001, made of wax-coated mild steel, is held by the Crafts Council Collection. Photo: Heini Schneebeli

Junko Mori

After completing her degree at Camberwell College of Art, Junko Mori’s initial plan was to head back to her homeland of Japan. But her then-tutor, Hans Stofer, encouraged Mori to stay by recommending her for the Next Move scheme, funded by Arts Council England (formerly the North West Art Board) and the Crafts Council, in 2001.

Today, Mori is famed for her complex sculptures made from hand-forged metals and is represented by London's Adrian Sassoon gallery. Her work is part of the collections of many international galleries and museums, from the Honolulu Museum of Art in Hawaii to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Two pieces of her works are also part of the Crafts Council Collection, and others have graced the pages of Crafts on a number of occasions, with a major profile written by then-editor Grant Gibson in 2013.

Jochen Holz's graduate piece, 'Who Sat On My Chair?' was featured in Crafts March/April 2004
Jochen Holz photographed in his east London studio for Crafts magazine's March/April 2018 issue. Photo: Phillip Sinden

Jochen Holz

Lampworker Jochen Holz has become famous for creating glass pieces so fluid they almost look like water itself. But in an interview in the March/April 2018 issue of Crafts, he spoke of the difficulty he’d experienced in getting his practice off the ground.

After being celebrated for his graduate collection (also featured on the pages of Crafts, in 2004), Holz had hit something of a lull and was unable to decide where to take his craft. After a hiatus, and a much-needed pep talk from designer Martino Gamper, he found a fresh perspective. His new pieces were part of the Crafts Council’s ‘A Future Made’ programme, which showcased the work of 30 makers work across North America and Europe, and 17 pieces of his glass now feature in the Collection. He exhibits with galleries including Flow, Seeds, The New Craftsmen and more.

Lubna Chowdhary photographed alongside her work at her London studio for Crafts' March/April 1996. Photo: Phil Tozer

Lubna Chowdhary

Lubna Chowdhary – who is represented by Indian gallery Jhaveri Contemporary – completed her MA in ceramics from Royal College of Art in 1991 and received a Crafts Council Setting Up Grant in 1992. The following year, she was featured in Crafts magazine as her show Neo Geo opened at London’s Commonwealth Institute. She featured again in 1996, in an article that focused on Metropolis, her collection of miniature ceramic objects inspired by architecture and the man-made world – now comprising more than 1,000 objects – which was shortlisted for the Jerwood Ceramics Prize in 2001. In 2011, she created an installation at the Collect art fair with weaver Ptolemy Mann.

From 2013 to 2016, Chowdhary participated in Injection, the Crafts Council’s training programme for established makers. Since then, she has exhibited around the world, completed residencies at the Victoria and Albert Museum and International Artists Studio Program in Stockholm, as well as winning accolades from the Arts Council, British Council and many more.

Angus Suttie
The Budgie Teapot, from 1985, is one of nine of Angus Suttie's works to feature in the Crafts Council Collection. Photo: Crafts Council Collection: P372

Angus Suttie

The ceramic artist Angus Suttie was born in rural Scotland and moved to London in his teens, where he studied at Camberwell School of Art. After graduating in 1979, a Crafts Council Setting Up Grant helped Suttie find his feet as he juggled teaching at Morley College with establishing an exciting pottery practice. His surreal slab-built sculptures soon found favour, and pieces were bought for collections including the Ulster Museum, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and the V&A Museum. His work was also sold in the Crafts Council’s on-site shop at the V&A during the 1980s.

Nine works feature in the Crafts Council Collection. The earliest is the playfully abstract Teapot (1982), made when Suttie had been a professional potter for only one year. Meanwhile, the last is Cup (1991) was a made two years before his death from an AIDS-related illness in 1993. In 2018, a new generation gained an appreciation for his work through a retrospective at Ruthin Craft Centre and an accompanying book. He is currently represented by Oxford Ceramics Gallery.

Simone Ten Hompel
Ten Hompel's The Stuff of Memory pictured, is part of the Crafts Council collection. Photo: Todd-White Art Photography

Simone Ten Hompel

Simone ten Hompel travelled from Germany to London in 1987, where she studied metalwork at the Royal College of Art. After graduation in 1989, a Crafts Council Setting Up Grant supported her transition into professional practice and she featured in Crafts magazine that same year.

Ten Hompel rapidly gained success for her sculptural silver spoons, jars and other vessels. The 1990s and 2000s saw a slew of solo shows and in 2005, she won the prestigious Jerwood Applied Arts Prize: Metal. In 2018, she delivered the Crafts Council's annual, prestigious Fielding lecture.

Her work is held in collections ranging from the V&A and the National Museum of Wales through to the Crafts Council Collection, which has nine works, and she is represented by Gallery SO. Last year, ten Hompel acted as a selector for the Maker's Eye exhibition at the newly opened Crafts Council Gallery – making her one of 13 craftspeople tasked with answering 'What does craft mean to you?' through their selection of objects.

Caroline Broadhead

Artist Caroline Broadhead received a Crafts Council ‘Grant to Craftsmen’ award in 1973, and since then has featured regularly in Crafts magazine over the course of her career – including a 1981 profile that explored how she was breaking new ground in jewellery.

Today, her work ranges from wearable works to installations, and is held in public collections including the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Crafts Council Collection. She was the winner of the Jerwood Prize for Applied Arts: Textiles in 1997, and has held major retrospectives at CODA in the Netherlands and the Lethaby Gallery in London, as well as exhibiting with Gallery SO. Until 2018, she held the positions of Jewellery and Textiles Programme Director and BA Jewellery Design Course Leader at her alma mater Central Saint Martins, where she continues to teach and holds the title of Professor Emerita. In 2020, Broadhead also acted as maker-selector for the Crafts Council's exhibition Maker's Eye, choosing 15 objects from the Collection to paint a picture of what craft means to her.

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