The Sun Shone And The Rain Poured Thank you for visiting Craft Festival
Written: 20 June 2019
The Sun Shone....And The Rain Poured....
But it didn't deter 10,000 visitors from heading to the Capital of Craft, Bovey Tracey. We're not sure where to start, but relax, read on, you are among friends.
Firstly, apologies for taking such a long time to write to you. Craft Festival is a huge honour to be involved with and when the weather doesn’t behave, our small team feels the pressure. We are delighted to report that the skips have now been removed, Bovey Rejoices! We’re also even more delighted to report that the amount of waste was significantly reduced now that we have implemented the banning of drinks being sold in plastic. Thank you to everyone who supported the initiative and for bringing your own water bottles for you to fill. Devon Contract Waste manage all our waste and we do not send anything to landfill.
Over 200 makers from across the UK gathered in Bovey Tracey to sell their work. We also want to congratulate our award winners:
Best Maker in the South West: Ali Herbert, potter from Colyton, Devon
Tony Piper Memorial Award presented by The Devon Guild: Sarah Straussberg, jeweller from Frome, Somerset.
Madebyhandonline.com Best New Business: Katie Timson, potter from Lancashire
Christian Dodd Best Ceramics: JaeJun Lee, potter from Cardiff
Craft Festival Best Stand: Takahashi McGil, woodworkers from Torquay, Devon
The Byre Gallery Showcase Award: Alison Dickens, basketmaker from London
Midgely Green Showcase Award: Jack Welbourne, potter from Cardiff
We doubled our workshop programme this year with a vast team of dedicated teachers who ran workshops throughout the weekend for all ages. Whether you booked a 2 hour session, met and talked to our demonstrators, visited The Den, Out of the Woods or The Craft Lab our mission to make craft important was delivered with passion and pride.
We introduced three new features:
The Common Room came about from feedback we had from the Children’s Tent where the adults bringing children also wanted a playful area to enjoy making in an informal and fun atmosphere. We contacted Laura Wasley and Emma Purdie from The Common Sense Studio at Ocean Studios and asked if they would put something together for us. The Common Room presented a range of workshops by makers from across Devon. Looking forward to what will be done next year.
Last year, Alex Pole and Ed Hunt demonstrated their skills as Pole and Hunt. This year, we asked them to bring their blacksmith experience, The Forge to the Festival. Blacksmiths battled the elements, demonstrating their skills over the hot coals of The Forge throughout the weekend.
Earlier in the year, we approached Daniel Carpenter, who is a founding Trustee of the Heritage Craft Association In 2018/2019, Daniel headed up research for the 2019 edition of the HCA’s Red List of Endangered Crafts. The Red List has been created to highlight the rate at which certain crafts are struggling to thrive whilst celebrating the efforts being made to revive and continue some of the most time-served and traditional crafts skills. We asked Daniel if the HCA would host a Red List feature in our beautiful Yurts for Life. The Yurt was an epicentre of creativity having drawn makers from across the South West including World Class mirror gilder Dave Smith from Torquay and Letter press printer Nick Hand. The weekend saw a range of fascinating demonstrations and conversations about the importance of making and how little is known about some tenacious traditional craftspeople. Dave Smith’s huge gilded panel, that over 200 visitors contributed to, was a sight to behold.
The Festival cannot function without our army of Volunteers. Thank you to the 90+ people that gave their time to make sure you were warmly welcomed and looked after throughout the weekend.
Kudos to the safety crew who were busy watching, helping, fixing and keeping you safe. The Festival Food was awesome this year, we upped the vegan options and didn’t skimp on flavour, thank you all. Our performers, whether they sang, told stories or raised a smile, we LOVED you.
And finally our great sponsors and supporters who help us put the icing on many cakes. Show them some appreciation and click their logos on our home page.
Our next event is Nourish Festival where we present a tantilising mix of food, drinks, craft and music on Fore Street in Bovey Tracey on August 31st. Followed by Craft Festival Cardiff on November 3-5th.
Applications are now open for Craft Festival Cheltenham. CLICK HERE to apply. Applications for Craft Festival Bovey Tracey will open in mid September.