Ebony Russell announced as the winner of Brookfield Properties Craft Award 2025

Ebony Russell, the innovative Sydney-based sculptural ceramicist, has won the 2025 Brookfield Properties Craft Award. Announced during a private ceremony at Collect Art Fair on Wednesday 26 February, Russell received the prestigious prize amongst fellow makers and invited guests. She is represented by Cynthia Corbett gallery, well known for its showcase of artists practicing at the intersection between fine arts and craft.

Now in its sixth edition, the Brookfield Properties Craft Award is the leading prize for contemporary craft in the UK. The annual award, founded by Brookfield Properties in partnership with Crafts Council, honours a living maker who has demonstrated expert skill and has significantly advanced the disciplines of craft and design.

This year’s winner, Ebony Russell, takes an unorthodox approach towards creating her ceramic sculptures. Informed by gender aesthetics, household labour and traditional craft practices, Russell challenges the structural principles of clay by intricately piping layers of porcelain to create her pieces. Through this technique, she blurs the boundaries between decoration and form; embellishment is a fundamental feature in her work’s construction.

Isobel Dennis, Collect Fair Director, said: “Clay is such an extraordinary medium and is probably one of the most chameleon, which is why so many artists are drawn to it as a material. It allows for a depth of expression, texture, scale and colour, and Ebony’s work embraces all of these and more. Her playful application of piping porcelain is not only new and innovative; it requires a high level of technical skill and material knowledge. Ebony’s wonderful, characterful, inspiring pieces make her a very fitting winner for this sixth edition of the Brookfield Properties Craft Award.”

The first international artist to receive the Brookfield Properties Craft Award, Russell was selected for her radical reinterpretation of one of the leading names in UK crafts – Wedgwood. Her sculptures offer a reimagining of Wedgewood’s famous ceramics, challenging the relationship between aesthetics and form.

Ebony Russell said: “I am truly honoured to receive the 2025 Brookfield Properties Craft Award. As an Australian artist, it is incredibly meaningful to be recognised with such a prestigious British award. My practice is driven by a deep respect for the handmade, a desire to push the known possibilities of clay, and a commitment to celebrating feminized and matrilineal craft traditions. My Wedgwood-inspired series pays homage to these histories while reinterpreting them through contemporary ceramics, and I am incredibly grateful that this work is being seen and recognised. Being acknowledged alongside such talented finalists is a privilege, and I sincerely thank Brookfield Properties and the Crafts Council for their dedication to supporting craft and makers.”

Works from each Brookfield Properties Craft Award recipient are shown in a solo exhibition staged at one of the sponsor’s key locations in the City of London. Debuting in the coming summer months, Russell’s extended body of work will be on display in two free exhibitions at 99 Bishopsgate and 30 Fenchurch Street. Visitors to the show will have the unique opportunity to witness the finer details of Russell’s highly crafted porcelain vessels within the heart of central London. The exhibition will add to the list of her recent international shows, including Homor Faber in Venice 2024, Teetering on the Brink, Claire Oliver Gallery in New York 2024 and Young Masters Art Prize in London 2023.

Saff Williams, Curatorial Director at Brookfield Properties, Europe, said: “The first time I saw Ebony’s pieces, I was struck by her ability to combine artifice with depth. Her vessels can catch your eye with their playful, decorative exterior and then draw you in with the intricacy of their design and the complexity of their structure. Ebony’s work is a real testament to the imagination and importance of contemporary crafts, which Brookfield Properties is proud to support. It will be a great joy to curate Ebony’s artworks across 99 Bisphosphate and 30 Fenchurch alongside the team at Crafts Council.”

In addition to her public exhibition, a selection of five objects by Russell will be acquired and donated to the Crafts Council Collection, making them available to future generations. Adding to an archive of over 1800 objects, Russell’s sculptures will join a collection that showcases over fifty years of acquisitions in contemporary craft.

Russell was one of five outstanding makers shortlisted for the sixth edition of the Brookfield Properties Craft Award. The other four shortlisted artists include wood sculptor and designer Alan Meredith (represented by Cavaliero Finn), glass maker Chris Day (represented by Vessel Gallery), multi-disciplinary artist Isobel Napier (represented by Flow Gallery) and installation ceramicist Valéria Nascimento (represented by jaggedart).

Pieces from each finalist will be on display with their respective galleries, as part of the 2025 Collect Art Fair. Showcasing works from 40 worldwide galleries, Collect is dedicated to bringing outstanding international contemporary craft and design to a collectors’ market.

Russell will follow in the footsteps of the five previous winners including Halima Cassell (represented by Joanna Bird Contemporary Collections, 2024), Alice Kettle (represented by Candida Stevens Gallery, 2023), Christian Ovonlen (represented by Intoart, 2022), Anna Ray (represented by House on Mars Gallery, 2021) and Matt Smith (represented by Cynthia Corbett Gallery, 2020).

Selected works by Ebony Russell will be on display with Cynthia Corbett Gallery, Booth W19 at Collect Art Fair until 2 March 2025.