Handmade Oxford inspires artisans, creativity and beauty in the wonderful Oxfordshire countryside.
Handmade Oxford
This summer, Handmade Oxford – The International Contemporary Craft Festival, is returning to Waterperry Gardens in Oxfordshire. Drawing together over one hundred and fifty of the UK’s finest proponents of craft, this annual event showcases stunning handmade furniture, homewares, ceramics, glass, textiles, jewellery, and sculpture: luxury creations as beautifully crafted as a couture dress or a Savile Row suit.
Renowned for its shows and online gallery, Handmade in Britain has been at the forefront of the UK craft industry for nearly twenty years, championing the best in making talent and bringing it to the most discerning of customers. A core part of its mission, to support the makers of the present and to foster those who will ensure the industry’s future. Handmade Oxford 2024, running from 21st-23rd June, fulfils this mission perfectly.
In an interview recently, Piyush Suri, Co-Founder of Handmade Oxford, expressed his excitement about the forthcoming show:
“We have an incredibly diverse line-up of handpicked designer-makers for the fourth annual Handmade Oxford, celebrating the very finest in craft and design.”
William Morris
A century and a half ago, artist, designer and pioneer William Morris championed craft. His whole career a clarion call to a newly industrialised nation to support those precious artists and makers creating work by hand and to cherish our extraordinary making heritage. In the 21st Century his call still reverberates, and his ethos burns brightly in Handmade in Britain and its beautiful shows in both Oxford and Chelsea.
Handmade Oxford has so much to offer, but here is just a glimpse of what lies in store:
Marchmont Workshop
Founded by Richard Platt and Sam Cooper, The Marchmont Workshop is a contemporary business faithfully honouring the past. Richard and Sam trained as apprentices under Laurence Neal, who in 2018 was the last full-time rush-seated chair-maker in the UK. From these small beginnings has grown a thriving business now based in the grounds of Marchmont House in Berwickshire.
Carolina De Jesus
Carolina De Jesus is a textile artist who expresses emotion through intense colour and intricate design. While training at Chelsea College of Art she began to experiment with winding threads, discovering in the technique the potential for complex and dynamic three-dimensional patterns. Her artworks are richly textured with shimmering colour.
Karina Gill
Karina Gill is silversmith based in a studio in Dorset. Her work transforms the hardest of metals into brilliant organic forms, mirroring the geometry of nature. Her unique, experimental approach has ensured her work is regularly exhibited nationally and internationally.
Pru Design
With a small yet incredible team, Pru offers an intimate, but beautifully crafted, collection of contemporary and sustainable cushions and throws combining influences from her love of travel, minimalist design, print and colour. Her timeless creations are at once luxurious and practical for contemporary living.
Julie Livesey at Pip Cottage
Julie enjoys, and is inspired by, the natural environment. Recreating and celebrating the shapes, forms, mass, flowing lines and textures of flora and fauna, she first draws and designs in pencil and charcoal before using flexible willow to form her sculptures and shapes. Julie preserves and champions heritage English basket weaves in her works.
Stephen Broughton
Inspired by The Beauty of Everyday Things, a book by Japanese art critic Yanagi Sōetsu, Stephen became enthralled by the inherent beauty that resides in function and began a personal quest to become a maker. Self-taught, Steven creates honest functional ceramics in his studio in Oxfordshire.
www.stevenbroughtonceramics.com
Cotswold Flora
Cotswold Flora was created by Poppy in 2022. Her magical floral sculptures are a quirky take on animal trophies. Dried flowers, grown in an orchard under the ancient perry pear and apple trees on a farm in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire provide her raw material. Enhanced with moss and feathers, Poppy’s creations are an explosion of colour.
https://www.cotswoldflora.co.uk
“Handmade Oxford will prove yet again that UK craft is world-renowned and thriving, and with Handmade in Britain, in safe hands.”
Dan Goode, Consultant Director, Handmade in Britain
This summer, why not take a stroll amongst some of the best that the world of UK craft has to offer? Or find inspiration by joining one of the many demonstrations and workshops that will take place throughout the duration of the show?
Tickets for Handmade Oxford, running from the 21st-23rd June, are available now, including a special VIP option with early opening time, priority parking, a dedicated entrance and a tipple of your choice.
For full details about Handmade Oxford, visit the Handmade in Britain website.
Handmade in Britain future shows and an all-year presence
In November the 17th edition of Handmade Chelsea will open its doors at the prestigious Chelsea Old Town Hall. Running from the 7th-9th November with an exclusive Private View on the evening of the 6th November.
To view and buy beautiful handmade work all year round, Handmade in Britain has an online shop featuring hundreds of the UK’s best designer-makers. Visit the Handmade in Britain website for details.
This is a Sponsored Post with Gentlemans Butler teaming up with Handmade to support our artisans and crafts.