Programme Announcement: Update on Collect

10 Jun 2024

Collect 2024 / Photography by Iona Wolff

The Craft Scotland team and Board have decided to postpone our participation in Collect and will be taking a break in 2025. This decision was not made lightly, and we understand the disappointment it may cause our community, makers, and supporters.

The leading international fair for contemporary craft and design, Collect has long been a highlight of the craft calendar. Organised by the Crafts Council, the fair welcomes 40 specialist galleries from across the globe to Somerset House in London each year, representing over 400 makers and works made in the past five years.

Craft Scotland has participated in ten editions of the fair; nine presentations as Craft Scotland (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024) and one presentation jointly with Emergents entitled ‘Scotland: Craft & Design’ in 2018. Over the years, we have directly supported 100+ Scotland-based makers to showcase their ambitious work through this high-profile platform. This break is in no way a reflection of the successes of this renowned international art fair. Our previous Collect presentations leave a lasting legacy for Scottish contemporary craft, having contributed to building awareness with a global audience of collectors, curators, buyers and craft enthusiasts.

It seems fitting at this tenth anniversary to pause and reflect on successes, opportunities for development and future directions.

We will be commissioning a researcher in 2024/25 to evaluate and measure the long-term impact on participating makers. The commissioned research will inform our future exhibiting programme. We will share key findings from the research to support sector development.

Our organisation remains committed to showcasing Scottish contemporary craft locally, nationally, internationally to support makers to flourish and the sector to increase, diversify and develop the audience for craft.

We will share more about our upcoming programme over the next few months, please sign up to our newsletters to be the first to hear.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our wonderful and talented participating makers, past and present Craft Scotland and Collect team, and visitors for all their support over the years. We wish the Crafts Council and participating galleries well for 2025 fair.

We welcome views from the sector on future international opportunities, or if you have any questions, please get in touch with the Craft Scotland team: hello@craftscotland.org.

Materials Ceramics Glass Metal Paper