London Craft Week supports the maker community for 2020 showcase
From a day of global creativity to emerging designs uncovered, London Craft Week hones in on the reassuring nature of craft and the community

As a concept, the sensory traditional of craft doesn’t lend itself to the virtual world we are currently living in, yet its slow-paced, thoughtful approach is one that is much needed right now. Returning for its sixth edition, London Craft Week mindfully supports makers this year through a handful of interesting initiatives.
London Craft Week founder Guy Salter is launching Create Day for 2020, a global digital feature that he had been thinking up for a while. The one day event (10 October) highlights the act of creation and creativity around the world. Each region gets a chunk of time, and for this, curator Rue Kothari and designer Mira Hawa have produced a series of films in support of the design community in Beirut following the disaster that tore down many studios and creative spaces.
‘Rebuild BEIRUT: promoting Lebanese creativity’ will showcase the sheer resilience of six designers, Sayar Garibeh, Anastasia Nysten, Karen Chekerdjian, Bokja, Cynthia Raffoul and Anastasia Elrouss. ‘We had originally approached over 30 designers to participate in this project,’ Kothari and Hawa say. 'So many told us that their ateliers had been destroyed, along with their archives, and several were suffering personal injury and loss. The challenges were simply too great. We truly thank them for their consideration and are grateful to these final six for having produced or collated footage for Create Day - in order to keep the spotlight on Beirut as it continues the fundraising effort to rebuild the city.’
Sayar & Garibeh studio before and after the Beirut blast
Sayar & Garibeh studio before and after the Beirut blast
In the spirit of underpinning the maker industry, Holly Wood curates ‘300 Objects: An Inaugural exhibition for Modern Day Patron,’ inside Quadrant Arcade that features an array of emerging talents championed by a panel of guest curators including designer interior architect Martin Brudnizki and design curator Kristen de le Vaillière.
‘We wanted to broaden the conversations around contemporary craft that doesn't always feel represented,’ says Wood of the motivation behind the exhibition. Meandering through the Charlotte Taylor-designed space were designs by the likes of London-based Simone Brewster who was selected by Alice Fisher and Cockpit Arts-based wood artist Darren Appiagyei who was chosen by Yinka Ilori. Nottingham-based designer Mac Collins was also chosen by Ilori, and on display was his powerful new orange stained white timber chairs, made in collaboration with British manufacturer Benchmark.
RELATED STORY
‘The Weaverly Way’ by Tiffany Loy at CitizenM Bankside
Elsewhere works by south east London-based Jan Hendzel and fascinating vessels and mirrors made from industrial waste materials by Charlotte Kidger also decorated the laboratory of experimental making.
Making waves in the weaving world is Royal College of Art MA graduate Tiffany Loy who has realised 'The Weaverly Way’ – a project produced alongside British brand, Gainsborough Weaving. The spatial sculpture work lands in the centre of the CitizenM’s wooden staircase as a solid structure, tipifying the three-dimensionality of jacquard weaving.
Future Icons at Burlington Arcade
Elsewhere inside Burlington Arcade, 14 craft practitioners went on view throughout the retail space in a collaboration with Future Icons, a project promotes a select collection of design and craft led businesses. Here, the public were able book in meetings with the makers to discuss processes and inspirations.
With this year‘s edition being postponed from May, the event’s founder Guy Salter expresses that 'I was determined we stuck with it because London remains a very important creative hub.’ In the virtual press preview, both him and managing director Jonathan Burton expressed they aim to encourage individuals to buy the works of these independent makers, Salter said, 'we wanted to show how we put the well known and the less well known together, illustrating the vision we have that people nowadays want to discover new talent.’
INFORMATION
londoncraftweek.com
www.createday.org
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Sujata Burman is a writer and editor based in London, specialising in design and culture. She was Digital Design Editor at Wallpaper* before moving to her current role of Head of Content at London Design Festival and London Design Biennale where she is expanding the content offering of the showcases. Over the past decade, Sujata has written for global design and culture publications, and has been a speaker, moderator and judge for institutions and brands including RIBA, D&AD, Design Museum and Design Miami/. In 2019, she co-authored her first book, An Opinionated Guide to London Architecture, published by Hoxton Mini Press, which was driven by her aim to make the fields of design and architecture accessible to wider audiences.
-
Cicchetti Piccadilly is like dining inside a Venetian sunset. Here's what we ate
San Carlo Group’s beloved Italian haunt returns with a glowing new look, just steps from its original home
-
'What does it mean that the language of photography is invented by men?' Justine Kurland explores the feminist potential of collage
'The Rose,' at the Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) in Kingston, New York, examines the work of over 50 artists using collage as a feminist practice
-
Eleven fashion designers that are defining American style in 2025
As seen in the ‘Made in America’ issue of Wallpaper*, meet 11 designers and brands that are shaping the American fashion landscape in 2025, from style stalwarts to rising stars
-
‘The point was giving ordinary people access to bold taste’: how Ikea brought pattern into the home
‘Ikea: Magical Patterns’ at Dovecote Gallery in Edinburgh tells the story of a brand that gave us not only furniture, but a new way of seeing our homes – as canvases for self-expression
-
Design beyond humans: a new exhibition argues that the world doesn’t revolve around us
‘More Than Human’ at London's Design Museum (until 5 October 2025) asks what happens when design focuses on the perspectives and needs of other species, from bees to seaweed
-
‘100 Years, 60 Designers, 1 Future’: 1882 Ltd plate auction supports ceramic craft
The ceramics brand’s founder Emily Johnson asked 60 artists, designers, musicians and architects – from John Pawson to Robbie Williams – to design plates, which will be auctioned to fund the next generation of craftspeople
-
‘Disabled people have always been here’: a new V&A show centres on disability in design
Curator Natalie Kane takes us through five key exhibits from the London show, where design points the way to a more inclusive society
-
Malta’s London Design Biennale installation ‘reclaims death as a moment of reflection, not fear’
Wallpaper* speaks with Andrew Borg Wirth, curator of Malta's installation, ‘URNA’, which reimagines cremation rituals
-
The animals came in two by two, hurrah!
Jonathan Baldock’s ‘WYRD’ menagerie takes up residence at Scotland’s Jupiter Artland for the summer
-
11 things that caught our eye at Clerkenwell Design Week 2025
The Wallpaper* team bring you highlights from London’s Clerkenwell Design Week (20-22 May) – from public installations to product launches and a biscuit bar
-
‘Romantic brutalism’ rethinks Polish craft
An exhibition in Warsaw gives local makers their due, looking inside the burgeoning world of Polish design