Scotland will make a splash at this year’s Collect

Scotland will be represented at this year’s Crafts Council  event Collect, when it returns for its 16^th edition.

Presented for the first time at Somerset House in London, the Crafts Council founded Collect in 2004 with the aim to build the profile and sales for collectable craft and to promote the very best galleries and artists in the field. It continues to be the only gallery-presented art fair dedicated to modern craft and design.

For 2020, Collect is moving to a striking new home at Somerset House and is excited to be taking over a large number of beautiful rooms, presenting a new environment for Collect exhibitors to contextualise and curate modern craft. Collect will occupy the large gallery wings at Somerset House, overlooking the Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court.

Collect is well-positioned at the start of the international cultural calendar and presents an opportunity to discover and invest in exceptional work produced in the last five years by living artists, much of which is made especially for the Fair.

Through the years Collect has been instrumental to defining and growing the market for contemporary craft. Collect celebrates over 400 artists presented by galleries coming from across the globe to this London stage. Half of the exhibitors come from outside the UK, with an impressive spread of European galleries as well an increased range of galleries from Asia.

A glasswork by Alexandra Muresan, of Northlands Creative

Craft Scotland will have its own dedicated gallery space for the first time, making it a real focal point of Collect 2020. They will be showcasing covetable artworks in silversmithing and goldsmithing, furniture making, ceramics, textiles and blacksmithing. There will be a mixture of established artists and exciting new craft talent and the eight makers selected represent some of the most celebrated makers working in Scotland today.

In addition, Northlands Creative, contemporary glass art gallery and studio based in the Scottish Highlands, will also be participating at this year’s fair. There will be a range of talented glass artists showcasing incredible new works which demonstrate the real skill that is involved in craft.

A spokesman said: ‘The appetite for contemporary craft continues to increase as seen by the number of new galleries emerging. The Fair’s new London home, Somerset House is an exciting development in the life of Collect allowing exhibitors to contextualise and curate modern craft and design against a backdrop of 18^th century architecture, high ceilings and picture windows looking out onto the Thames.’

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