Ten Crafts Council Collection makers exhibiting at Collect 2025

From the stunning ceramics of Magdalene Odundo to the space age jewellery of Wendy Ramshaw, Crafts Council Collection isn’t short of iconic names in contemporary craft. Since 1972, our curators have carefully acquired works by both household names and emerging stars alike.

We've picked ten makers with works in our Primary Collection who are also exhibiting at Collect 2025, for your delectation while you're at the fair.

From politically-charged textiles to otherworldly metals, here's our guide to a smorgasbord of inspiration, skill and creativity - a brilliant way to explore what makers are doing today and how their practices have evolved.

See all the collected works by the makers in our list in one place, through our Collections Online tool here - then book one of our Collections Store visits - all free. Enjoy!

Adi Toch

Concerned with the form and structure of materials, artist metalsmith Adi Toch creates works that toy with the senses. From decaying mirrors to rotating bowls filled with tiny gemstones, her work transforms that harsh and unforgiving medium of metal into delicate objects that are soft, buttery and seamless. We currently hold two vessels by Toch in our Primary Collection, The Red Sand Bowl (2010) and The Oil Drizzler (2012), whose almost perfect, buffed appearance make these ethereal works appear like foreign objects beamed to earth from another realm. We also hold a photographic print of the artists’ working gloves. Coated in brass dust, they invite reflection on the overlooked and often discarded traces of making, reminding us that it is indeed human hands that craft Toch’s otherworldly creations. Toch returns to Collect with two galleries, Cavaliero Finn (stand W17), in collaboration with Edmond Byrne and solo with Galerie Marzee (stand E16).

Rebecca Appleby 

Memories haunt the work of acclaimed sculptor Rebecca Appleby. Consisting of sculptures that crumble, swell and decay, her deeply personal art continues to stretch the limits of clay. Our collection is home to Appleby’s Teabowl (2020), which is part of a series dedicated to her experience with sepsis and cancer in the aftermath of giving birth to her first child. The series of these ‘architectural/human rubble’ structures, represent her interpretation of human, physical and material trauma. She will be presenting a new body of work with & Gallery (stand W18) that explores the conflicting relationship between industry, nature and the human body.

Chris Knight

One of Britain’s leading metalsmiths, Chris Knight has spent over 35 years working with silver, bronze, aluminium and steel. Known for crafting sleek tea sets and monumental public sculptures, Knight knows every corner of this unrelenting medium. We currently hold Knight’s Tea Set (2004) in our collection. Using a mixture of traditional hand and machine manufacturing techniques, this modern take on crockery has been polished within an inch of its life to remove all hints of the human hand. Knight’s admiration for both the humanity of craft and the ingenuity of machines pulses throughout everything he creates. Catch his work on stand E17 exhibiting with BR Gallery.

Rebecca De Quin

A founding member of Contemporary British Silversmiths, celebrated metalsmith and researcher Rebecca De Quin has used her work to reinvent our understanding of crockery, vessels, wall art and more. Within her art, jugs and mugs are often flattened and placed onto metal sheets that are hung on the wall, whilst spoons and beakers are elevated beyond functionality to works of art in their own right. As a craft educator, De Quin is particularly interested in the materiality, sustainability and cultural significance of metal. Her work is being shown alongside Chris Knight with BR Gallery (stand E17).

Alice Kettle

You may have heard Alice Kettle’s name floating around a fair few times. The textile artist has received many accolades over the years, including the Brookfield Properties Craft Award which she took home in 2023. Selected for her bold, free-stitched technique, Kettle blends traditional and experimental methods to produce her skilled textile works. Having trained as a fine artist, Kettle layers her stitching in a painterly fashion, threading together memories, mythology and fiction with dazzling effect. Her work will be showing at Collect 2025 with Candida Stevens Gallery (stand W16).

Jane Adam

Celebrated jeweller and lecturer Jane Adam creates gorgeous examples of wearable art through innovative means. A true trailblazer, Adam is known for pushing the boundaries of metal – crafting jewellery that is scored, punched, burnt, melted and oxidised. As co-founder of the Association for Contemporary Jewellery, Adam has continued to spread her knowledge to budding jewellers across the UK. She is represented at Collect by London’s original multi-disciplinary applied arts gallery, Contemporary Applied Arts (stand S5).

Colin Reid

Colin Reid is regarded as a pioneer in the field of kilncast glass. Taking inspiration from nature, he uses impressions from rocks to inform the shape of his pieces. For Reid’s object, Untitled Cast Form #R1215 (2004), he used a silicone mould pressed against the outside of Gloucester Cathedral, linking to craftsmen of the past whose hands formed the stone. Colin Reid will be exhibiting at Collect 2025 amongst an array of brilliant glass makers on stand E24 with Peter Layton London Glassblowing.

Bisila Noha

Ceramic artist and storyteller Bisila Noha aims to challenge Western views on art and craft. With a background in Translation and International Relations, Noha is a passionate feminist activist who is currently leading the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre, as well as the arts platform Lon-art Creative. Noha’s Two Legged Vessel (2020), acquired through our New Positions initiative is emblematic of her expressive ability to recall personal narratives through clay. It forms part of Noha’s project Baney Clay: An Unearthed Identity, which she describes as a personal journey to connect with her own ancestry and Blackness. The title, Baney, comes from her dad’s home village in Equatorial Guinea, where the clay is sourced. Don’t miss her work at stand S4, where she will be represented by Thrown.

Bruno Romanelli

Bruno Romanelli is a highly skilled and established artist who has specialised in the technique of lost wax glass casting for over 30 years. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, his journey into glass began by creating figurative glass sculptures often incorporating casts of his own body. His weird and wonderful work, Boxed X (2001), currently belongs to Crafts Council’s collection, and features a cast of Romanelli’s head. In recent years, his work has focussed on abstract and geometric concepts, exploring the fundamental relationships between material in form, light and colour. He is showing at Collect by Peter Layton London Glassblowing (stand E24).

Matt Smith

Matt Smith is known for using his art to critique conventions of museums, galleries and historic houses. Predominantly working in clay and textiles, he uses these materials to explore preconceived notions of cultural organisations. Using objects and repurposing them in new situations, his art challenges historical narratives and their so-called ‘truths’. Erasure is an important facet of his work, focusing predominantly on LGBTQIA+ stories, Smith sheds light on the beautiful and often hidden histories of marginalised people throughout time. By combining high and low value objects—industrially produced alongside the handmade—hierarchies are questioned and binaries disrupted. Catch Smith’s work at stand W19 with Cynthia Corbett gallery.

Collect is taking place 27 February – 2 March at Somerset House, London. Book your ticket now

On Saturday 1 March, Deborah Ridley, Crafts Council Senior Collections and Programme Manager, is hosting a panel discussion at Collect with Adi Toch (Galerie Marzee, Cavaliero Finn), Bruno Romanelli (Peter Layton London Glassblowing) and Matt Smith (Cynthia Corbett Gallery). The artists will explore their work in relation to public collections, examine selected pieces from the Crafts Council Collection, and share insights about the works they are presenting at this year's Collect. Learn more

Our Collections Store is open to the public and you can book a free visit, guided by our curators, to handle and explore works of contemporary craft. See all upcoming free slots