News
Crafting success for designer-makers
Published 03.12.08
This autumn a new kind of fair came to town – The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair. CREATIVE Times got the lowdown from the two people who made it happen.
Having regularly visited craft fairs such as Origin, Ann-Marie Franey and Angela Mann had long questioned why they always had to travel south for these events. “Fairs are a major route to market for many designer-makers,” explained Angela, “yet the cost of traveling to exhibit can make it unfeasible for some.” And so, after almost two years of researching, planning and promoting, The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair was launched.
Applications to exhibit came flooding in from across the UK as well as parts of Europe. On receiving 300 applications for just 130 stalls they called in a panel of five craft experts including Professor Steve Dixon of MMU, Jemila Topalian, former owner of Gallery Artizana, and Jo Bloxham, collector and curator of jewellery, to make those all-important selections. “Work was chosen based on innovation, quality and consistency of their craft” explained Ann-Marie.
Thomas Heatherwick officially launched the event held over three days at The Manchester Grammar School. Heatherwick praised the fair as an “important platform for designer-makers to sell their work.” A staggering 3500 visitors flocked to the exhibits from a wide range of designer-makers. “One of the highlights was seeing the queues of people to get in” said Ann-Marie. “We knew we’d tapped into something exciting and it was great to see all our hard work paid off.”
A whole host of awards were presented at the fair. The Best in Show award sponsored by Pannone LLP went to Peter Howcroft of Howcroft & Jordan, a Stockport based maker of wooden utensils and furniture. “We are delighted with the award” Peter exclaimed, “running your own business you can often isolate yourself. This fair has been great for building up contacts and meeting people working in similar disciplines. We’ll definitely be back next year,” he added. Further awards included Best New Maker, sponsored by Freedman Frankl and Taylor, which went to furniture maker David Tragen, and Best Selected Maker, sponsored by Broadstone Mill in Stockport, went to Ruth Anthony, a Sheffield based jewellery maker and Manchester Metropolitan University graduate.
Ann-Marie and Angela hope to build on the success of the inaugural fair and plans are afoot for 2009. For more details visit their website:
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Creative Times, Creative Times