The Capital of Craft

In this week's episode of  The Capital of Craft, Sarah James from Craft Festival and Find a Maker talks with ceramic artist, Paul Wearing .  We discuss his two year long project, Material Matters, an Arts Council of Wales funded project that originated from an invitation from Ruthin Craft Centre to deliver a solo exhibition in 2020. We also discuss his meticulous material experimentation and how i...

In this week's episode of The Capital of Craft, Sarah James from Craft Festival and Find a Maker talks with willow grower, basket maker and Find a Maker member, Justine Burgess from West Wales Willows.  Justine is based amongst the mountains near Brechfa in deeply rural Carmarthenshire, West Wales.  She grows a variety of willows that she weaves into baskets and teaches workshops at various times...

In this week's episode of The Capital of Craft, Sarah James from Craft Festival and Find a Maker talks with woodcarver and Find a Maker member, William Barsley.  William is a second career woodcarver, intensively trained at the highly acclaimed Historic Woodcarving and Gilding course  at the City and Guilds of London Art School. In 2013, William took a leap of faith and left his 9-5 office job wor...

In this week's episode of The Capital of Craft, Sarah James from Craft Festival and Find a Maker talks with shepherdess and maker Katie Allen from Loopy Ewes. We discuss how Katie developed her passion for growing her own vegetables and rearing her own animals into becoming a farmer.  This lead to diversifying into rearing rare breed sheep and using their wool for her label, Loopy Ewes. We also ta...

In this week's episode of The Capital of Craft, Sarah James from Craft Festival and Find a Maker talks with clothes designer and maker Sigrid Verschraeghen from her home in Silverton, Devon.  Born in Belgium, Sigrid won the coveted Best Stand award at this year's Craft Festival in Bovey Tracey. She trained as a fashion designer, working with various fashion houses, never feeling at home with the v...

In this week's episode of The Capital of Craft, Sarah James from Craft Festival and Find a Maker talks with silversmith, Brett Payne from his home in Sheffield.  Brett is one of the UK's most eminent makers, specialising in hot forging and raising silver for over 25 years.  Brett is a Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, a Freeman of The Cutlers' Company of Hallamshire, a Fellow of t...

In this week's episode of The Capital of Craft, Sarah James from Craft Festival and Find a Maker talks with Dartmoor based woodsman, charcoal maker and stave basket maker, John  Williamson .  The Devon stave basket is an agricultural basket made in a range of sizes corresponding to different weights of usually apples, potatoes and animal feeds. It is a practical, beautiful object.  John has lived...

In this week's episode of The Capital of Craft , Sarah chats with multi award wining jeweller and gallery owner, Anne Morgan. Born in Keynsham, brought up in Somerset and Warwickshire Anne has always had a passion for jewellery. After gaining a BA (Hons) in Designed Metalwork and Jewellery at Buckinghamshire College, High Wycombe she moved to Cardiff to continue developing her signature style. She...

Season 2 of The Capital of Craft Craft Festival Director, Sarah James talks to printmaker and textile artist, Ben Partridge, AKA The Owlery about his life and varied career. Specialising in screen print and surface pattern, The Owlery was founded by printmaker and textile artist Benjamin Partridge in late 2013. Ben proudly works from his studio in Yorkshire ArtSpace in Sheffield, home to over 160...

Welcome to Season 2 of The Capital of Craft Craft Festival Director, Sarah James talks to award winning weaver, educator and curator Laura Thomas about her life in making.  Laura Thomas is an established woven textile artist, designer and maker specialising in producing unconventional textiles for contemporary spaces. Based in South Wales, her work can be found in important public collections incl...

In our Christmas Special of The Capital of Craft podcast, Dr Kate Strasdin talks to Craft Festival Director, Sarah James about her life in making.  They talk about her early years in West Wales and how it has shaped the way she runs her business. Relentless advocate for makers, the Craft Festival in Bovey Tracey has grown into a multi-brand powerhouse of support for craft. They also talk about new...

In our latest episode of The Capital of Craft , Sarah from Craft Festival talks to Dr. Kate Strasdin, Fashion Historian and Lecturer in Fashion History and Theory at Falmouth University and Visiting Lecturer at DeTao Masters Academy in Shanghai, China. Also a curator, writer and fashion commentator, Sarah and Kate discuss the importance of fashion, how it tells so many stories and how heritage cra...

In our latest episode of The Capital of Craft , Sarah from Craft Festival talks to one half of Reptile, Carlo Briscoe. Based in the Preseli hills of Pembrokeshire, Sarah and Carlo talk about Reptile's career in making huge tile murals & ceramics and bringing creativity and individuality into a competitive and commercial market. Reptile is a tile making and ceramics company run by Carol Briscoe and...

In our latest episode of The Capital of Craft , Sarah from Craft Festival talks to sculptor, artist and clay-mation specialist Jim Parkyn. They chat about his early years in animation and plasticine modelling to joining Aardman and running the Aardman Academy. They talk about developing his own live Community Claytime during Lockdown on Instagram and how it's opened new possibilities and opportuni...

In our latest episode of The Capital of Craft , Sarah from Craft Festival talks to potter, Arwyn Jones.  Based in Modbury in Devon, Sarah and Arwyn talk about how he was introduced to clay, his career in cricket and how the repetitive nature of throwing pots keeps him sane.  Arwyn is a member of the Devon Guild and a regular exhibitor at Craft Festival in Bovey Tracey. @craftfestival @thecapitalof...

In our latest episode of The Capital of Craft , Sarah from Craft Festival talks to leatherworker, Katy Warriner from Warriner Leatherworks. Devon based leatherworker, Katy is an emerging maker living on the edge of Dartmoor. We discuss her traditional training, her move from Festival management to maker and her ethical approach to working in leather.  Recorded before the 2nd Lockdown. Katy is also...

In our latest episode of The Capital of Craft , Sarah from Craft Festival talks to Director and Curator of Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre, Louise Jones-Williams.  They discuss how Llantarnam Grange makes its curatorial choices, why education in craft is so important and how the Grange has adapted during Covid. Recorded before the 2nd Lockdown. Louise and the Grange are long term supporters of Craft...

In our latest episode of The Capital of Craft , Sarah from Craft Festival talks to blacksmith Alex Pole.  Sarah met Alex before the 2nd Lockdown. They talk about how Alex Pole Ironwork has flourished during the pandemic and how his love of craft was nurtured from an early age.  They chat about his latest project, the book, Forge Kitchen which fuses Alex's love of food and fire.  A great chat that...

In our latest episode of The Capital of Craft , Sarah from Craft Festival talks to jeweller, Bronwen Gwillim Known for her use of foraged and post-industrial waste plastic, Sarah met Bronwen before the 2nd Lockdown. They talk about her approach to materials and making, how her beautiful  surroundings in Pembrokeshire have shaped her practice and how a second career can be successful and life chang...

In our latest episode of The Capital of Craft , Sarah from Craft Festival talks to illustrator, printmaker and live artist, Lucie Sheridan AKA Rubbish Portraits. This podcast contains huge amounts of laughing. Based in Centrepace Studios in Bristol, Lucie shares her journey from illustrator to her genius concept, Rubbish Portraits .   @craftfestival @thecapitalofcraft @digitalcraftfestival  @rubbi...

In this episode of The Capital of Craft, Sarah James from Craft Festival talks to knitwear designer maker and alpaca farmer, Sian O'Doherty. Based on Ash Farm in Pembrokeshire, Sian discusses how she works with wool, how she developed her use of alpaca wool and how she has expanded the herd. Sarah and Sian also discuss how important good food is to good mental health and what's she's been doing ov...

In this episode of The Capital of Craft, Sarah James from Craft Festival talks to printmaker, designer and illustrator Tom Frost from his home in rural Carmarthenshire. They discuss Tom's varied career, the different ways that he works and what's he's been doing over the last 6 months and the positive outcomes of lockdown @craftfestival @thecapitalofcraft @digitalcraftfestival  @theboyfrost www.cr...

Welcome to The Capital of Craft, where we talk with makers and thinkers about what it means to be a maker and how it can change your life. In this episode, Sarah James from Craft Festival talks to textile artist and teacher, Suzi Park. Based in the West Wales town of Cardigan, Suzi set up Make it in Wales, a workshop, retail and cafe space teaching craft workshops of all kinds. We discuss her jour...

In this episode, Sarah James from Craft Festival talks to letterpress printer and designer, Nick Hand from The Letterpress Collective. They are speaking from Nick's home in Bristol.  Sarah and Nick discuss the history of letterpress printing and how it is positioned on the Red List of Endangered Crafts published by the Heritage Craft Association.  They also talk about his Journeyman adventures acr...

In this episode of The Capital of Craft, Sarah James from Craft Festival talks to ceramic artist, Justine Allison.  Based in her studio, deep in the countryside of West Wales, Justine hand builds with porcelain and they discuss the relationship between material, process and concept. Justine explores porcelain's fine and durable qualities juxtaposed with it's fragile and unpredictable nature.  They...