London Craft Week

It's craft's time to shine and the inaugural London Craft Week is turning the spotlight on the capital's wealth of creative talent. “London has long had a Fashion Week and a Design Festival. From 2015, it will have the equivalent for the craft sector: LONDON CRAFT WEEK featuring the artistic flair, painstaking skills and raw talent of exceptional craftsmanship and, as a result, attracting an ever-increasing quality and volume of collectors and customers.” explains Guy Salter, Founder & Chairman of London Craft Week. We picked up a programme at today's press briefing at Contemporary Applied Art's specially created pop-up pavilion of making and were instantly faced with a scheduling conundrum – we're not sure it's possible to see everything on our wishlist.   We want to "step behind the scenes into the world of Lock & Co – the world’s oldest hat shop", watch Dashing Tweed weave. Learn about the rare art of livery tailoring at Henry Poole & Co. See how an iconic Mulberry Bayswater bag is made and learn how to set type and operate the hand-pulled presses at the New North Press. Honestly we could go on and on... which reminds us the world's oldest manufacturer of fine watches and London Craft Week's Founding Partner, Vacheron Constantin, are offering the chance to try your hand at assembling a movement and the art of engraving. Craft certainly has time on its side but this week we'll be pushed for it...