London Craft Week: Alice Gabb – Words That March
At the heart of Alice Gabb’s practice is a quiet but unshakeable belief: that words - when stitched, painted, shouted, or held aloft - can spark change. During London Craft Week, Alice brings this conviction to House of Hackney’s flagship showroom with a workshop that honours the radical legacy of protest banners and invites others to join the long line of voices stitched into British history.
Gay Okay banner, Alice Gabb.
A queer lettering artist and banner maker based in Hackney, Alice works out of a snug studio in Dalston, shared with two fellow creatives and a particularly opinionated Italian Greyhound. Her work lives in the space between precision and play- beautifully hand-rendered words tumbling across cloth with wit, grace, and a fierce political edge. Her banners, made with vintage fabrics and deep intent, are love letters to collective action, resistance, and the long, defiant history of British social movements.
Friendship Love Truth banner. Alice Gabb.
The seeds of Alice’s practice were planted long before she knew the term ‘modern calligraphy.’ After graduating from Bath Spa University with a Visual Communications degree, she sold hand-printed stationery at Broadway Market. It was there, through repeated commissions and the joyful friction of pen on paper, that she began carving out her distinctive, tactile style.
'We are our Ancestors Wildest Dreams'. Banner by Alice Gabb.
It wasn’t until the Women’s March in 2017 that Alice found herself pulled into the charged, visual world of protest. She began researching the heritage of banners in the UK: suffragettes, peace camps, striking miners, queer liberation marches - movements where cloth and lettering became powerful tools of solidarity. “Making something by hand, for a cause you believe in - it’s an act of love as well as defiance,” she says. Since then, her banners have turned up in marches, community halls and activist spaces, often gifted to groups that align with her politics.
Alice Gabb, courtesy of the artist.
For London Craft Week, Alice will lead a spirited dive into the radical history of banners, mining stories from secret societies, trade unions, and civil disobedience. The talk is part personal journey, part living archive. Then, in a hands-on session, participants will create their own mini banner using House of Hackney’s lush fabric remnants in a playful protest of making.
Alice doesn’t make work to be perfect. She makes it to be felt. Her banners are declarations, stitched with hope, humour and fury. At a time when so much feels out of our hands, her workshop offers a gentle, joyous reminder: we still get to choose our words.
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Further Information:
Alice Gabb
HOUSE OF HACKNEY X ALICE GABB: A Radical History of Banners Workshop
17 May 2025, 10:30 - 13:00
House of Hackney, St Michael's Clergy House, Mark Street, EC2A 4ER
House of Hackney
London Craft Week
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Image Credits:
Lead Image: All Flowering is Mutual. Banner by Alice Gabb.
All other images as credited in photo captions.