There are many craft fairs around the UK but Origin is the biggest and the best, it has just shown at the revamped Old Spitalfields Market in London.
‘Origin’ evolved from “Chelsea Craft’s Fair’ started by Lady Phillipa Powell in the early 1970s. At the same time the Craft’s Council started collecting craft for the British nation. As the standard of work and the interest in crafts grew so Chelsea Craft’s Fair became the beacon aspired to by designer makers. It was the place known for high quality work and where the cognoscenti came to buy.
One of the ways standards were maintained was, if you showed your work at Chelsea one year there was no guarantee you would be able to exhibit the next. To be allowed to show, each designer/maker has to send examples of their work and demonstrate how it has evolved over the year.
As the popularity and interest in crafts grew, Chelsea Town Hall, where up to then, Chelsea Crafts Fair had been held, became too small. Other venues were tried including Somerset House, and now for the second year running, Old Spitalfields Market. The craft’s council now run the event and have renamed it Origin and it has been integrated into the London Design Festival. Last year there were 1,700 visitors who saw and bought work from over 200 designer/makers.
Old Spitalfields Market is one of London’s most historic areas surrounded by beautiful Georgian Town houses that were once the site of Huguenot silk weaving, clock making and leather-work. It has always been an area into which immigrants pour. There was once a large Jewish community affiliated to the rag trade and now it is home to many Bangladeshi’s. Despite gentrification it still has an air of nonconformity, present since the time of Charles II.
There is a growing interest in making things and a desire for trusted and authentic products. In the UK many new and younger people are taking up all kinds of crafts. According to Google UK, searches for ‘Knitting for beginners’ has increased by 250/% in the last year.
The work on show at Origin is beautifully made, original and still commercial. It represents years of training and experimentation, resulting in innovation and original and beautiful pieces of work.
The work is displayed by discipline: ceramics, fashion accessories, glass, knitwear, interiors, millinery, paper, non precious jewellery, precious jewellery, wood and woven textiles.
The work is no longer just that of the British, and as well as many foreign students who have studied in the UK there are also makers from abroad who come to exhibit. It was a real pleasure to talk to many of the craftsmen and women about their work. If you want to show at Origin next year you have to apply with evidence of your work to the Crafts Council by February 2012.
Juliet Bawden - Juliet Bawden is a craft & design writer and broadcaster. She has had over 60 books published. She crafts, cooks -gardens and recycles
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