Pendle Pottery, based in the Heart of the Ribble Valley, held two exciting days of ceramic events as part of National Ceramics week and Ribble Valley’s ‘Mayfest’.

The first was a RAKU day where members of Pendle Pottery took part in a creative day, most of whom hadn’t experienced the outdoor firing technique.

Secondly, Clay Day was a drop in event where members of the general public could come to Pendle Pottery and experience throwing a pot and playing with clay! Children and adults alike enjoyed a fabulous day and took home their clay creations.

Unbelievably this weekend is the last in May – that’s the final weekend of Craft and Design Month.

There are lots of events being held all over the country and some really super ones featured on this website. Just have a look to see what’s happening in your area.

For those in Scotland there’s an enormous choice – I think we have more listed in Scotland for the final few days than anywhere else (but I haven’t sat and counted them so I could be wrong).

I’ve picked out a few highlights of things happening to give you a taster but hope everyone enjoys the weekend whatever they’re doing.

We began Craft and Design Month with our launch at London Glassblowing Studio & Gallery so it seems fitting to mention an opportunity to try a glass blowing course at the end. Anyone in and around Alloa Maker’s Village in Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, might want to try ‘Blowing a tumbler’ with Elin Isaksson Glass. See www.elinisakssonglass.com.

For those a little further south, today saw the opening of The Exhibitionists Profile Gallery, at Saltbury by the Sea, Redcar & Cleveland. A celebration of creative talent the event includesAfternoon Tea: Sun 29 May, 1.30 – 5pm at Ormesby Hall, Middlesbrough. Full details at www.theexhibitionists.co.uk

The ‘Constructions’ Exhibition at @ Divinity Studio, Manchester Craft & Design Centre concludes shortly.
This is a unique exhibition highlighting different methods, techniques and processes used by some of Manchester’s leading contemporary craftspeople. The exhibiting makers are Eve Redmond, Jane Dzisiewski, Lucy Harvey, Carly Petitt-Taylor, Sadie Blythin and Janet Worrall.

For those a little further south there’s a lot going on at Rufford Craft Centre in Nottinghamshire.

There there is a specialist Craft and Design Month marquee at the Wrest Park Garden Show in Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedfordshire from 28-30 May whilst in Oxfordshire a major event is Art, Design & A Taste of Summer at Blenheim Palace.

Monday 30th sees the Surrey County Show at Guildford which attracts around 40,000 visitors.

Then one of the final events of the month will be a Polishing and Finishing Masterclass at London Jewellery School in Hatton Garden.

Let’s hope the weather keeps fine for everyone.

Do send in your photos for the blog – we’d love to see them.

If there was one thing we weren’t expecting for Craft and Design Month, it was support from someone that’s in a position to actually making a difference.

I blogged previously on the HCA conference where the Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning was due to make a speech. Unfortunately he was called away on urgent business but still took the time to prepare a video of his speech which was shown in his absence. Here’s a transcript:

“Good afternoon everyone. I am delighted to be able to send this personal message to your forum. Previous generations understood the value of craft, and I want you to know, that I know, that it’s value is undiminished. Those that are preoccupied with the soulless ubiquity which is the antithesis of heritage crafts won’t or can’t grasp the hunger for that which is made with care, precision and style.

It is through the union between art and craft that what we use becomes what we value. It’s time to relearn, there is much more to heritage crafts than a sentimental attachment to what was, they are for then and now and they provide markets for more than 10,000 businesses and work for nearly 90,000 people. The time when people are at last coming to realise that practical skills can provide a secure route to success in life, heritage crafts are living models of how such skills can be most effectively acquired.

Of course the heritage crafts do something more important even than that. They remind us of the British people’s latent capacity to acquire and apply skills in ways that made this country a great manufacturing power in the past and can, and will, do so again in the future.

Heritage crafts deserve to be encouraged and there are three basic ways which I want us to start to do that immediately:

First at present we have no clear picture of the sector skills needs including those of crafts which are in danger of dying out. and of where the strongest opportunities for growth and job creation lie. That is no basis on which to either make policies to promote craft or to encourage more young people to enter the sector. So there is an urgent mapping exercise to be undertaken and it will be undertaken.

Second we must make sure that everyone is made aware of the importance of heritage crafts in modern Britain, and the opportunities they offer to young people of talent and ambition. We don’t start from scratch here do we, for example the Balvenie masters of craft awards in which the HCA is collaborating closely will be bestowed at the start of June and will be a great step forward in raising the profile and status of heritage crafts. They have my full support. We should do much more to support and build on initiatives like this, and that’s why I am leading work to develop a new framework for the recognition and celebration of craft. The aim will be to raise the status of craft and make people know that achieving craft skills is as important, perhaps more important, than academic prowess alone. I want also to ensure that guilds and livery companies can help to sustain heritage crafts in the same way that bodies like the law society and the royal college of surgeons help to bind other professions together and protect their interests.

Third, we must ensure that heritage craft skills benefit from the full measures that are already in place, for example the government has protected the budget for informal adult community learning, and there is a great opportunity for heritage crafts here. Informal learning can be the first step towards discovering, or developing a new talent, an aptitude for craft and the start of the journey that leads to a new fulfilling career for some. The next step is often an apprenticeship. Apprenticeships of one sort or another have been the main route into craft since early times, and they remain a proven way to master a skill. The government has committed itself to building more apprenticeships in Britain than ever before. In the CSR and the budget we allocated extra resources to ensuring that apprenticeship opportunities are spread across sectors and across Britain. I want a new generation of apprentices , learning skills, getting and keeping jobs, building Britain’s prosperity. It is clearly in the heritage crafts interest to take advantage of that extra capacity.

You know heritage craft say much about our country. They illustrate just what can be done when people master a competence that has both utility and more than that has beauty. I make no apologies for making the link between craft and style.

I hope that brief summary provides a clear indication of just how seriously I take the issue of heritage crafts. Not just their preservation but the active promotion of craft skills. Craft is like a golden thread that links our past present and future and this is a timely reminder that the diversity and individuality of craft mirror the qualities of the British people themselves. I’m determined that the British people through the acquisition of practical skills should be given every chance to succeed.

John Hayes Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning 11/05/2011

Slip potter Hannah McAndrew is looking forward to taking part in Spring Fling at Dumfries & Galloway this coming weekend (28-30 May). She will be one of 86 artisans. See the website www.spring-fling.co.uk for more information on the event.

For Hannah it’s special because it’s the first time she will be opening her new, bigger studio and she has a newly completed kiln outside which she’s looking forward to showing off to visitors.

Here’s what she says on the Spring Fling website: “I love clay. Whether I’m throwing it on the wheel, using it as a liquid to pour and trail across my pots or spending time preparing, wedging and getting it to the perfect state for making. It is a fantastic material, endlessly adaptable, capable of fascinating and beguiling those who work with it. Its plasticity and memory allow me to create an ever-evolving range of forms. Visitors will see new pots, both in progress and finished, in my new workshop and hopefully let me share my love for clay.”

Hannah won a Silver Award in the 2010 Craft&Design Selected Awards. Have you seen the list of 2011 winners? They can be found on the website: www.craftanddesign.net.

The Craft and Design Month launch exhibition has now finished so we’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone that participated.

For anyone who couldn’t make the launch, here’s a video that was taken on the day.

A huge thank you goes out to Linda Barker who allowed us to film her trying glassblowing for the very first time under the expert guidance of Bruce Marks.  And of course another massive thank you to Peter Layton and the rest of his team for sharing London Glassblowing Gallery and Studio so generously.

We’re about to enter the final week of Craft and Design Month now so hope everyone has a fabulous week.

There are some fabulous shows taking place all over the country this month with many featured on this website via the ‘What’s On’ guide.  However, here’s one that takes place over the late Bank Holiday weekend – that’s 28th-30th May.

Blenheim Palace

Art, Design & A Taste of Summer brings creativity to Blenheim Palace in Woodstock near Oxford.  A highlight of the show will be the craft&design Pavillion.

Textiles by Myra Hutton

Featured designer-makers are Myra Hutton, textile artist, Gordon Kent, furniture maker, James Dougall, silversmith and Carol Griffin, enameller.  Meet the designers, share their passion, be inspired by their  demonstrations and displays of work  - contemporary craft at its best.

Silver Candles by James Dougall, Silversmith

There’s lots more going on as well so plenty to inspire.  See www.livingcrafts.co.uk for more details.

Nuria Gambau was one of the featured exhibitors at the Craft and Design Month Launch Exhibition at London Glassblowing Gallery and Studio in Bermondsey, London which finished earlier this month.  She creates sculptural handbags and they look absolutely stunning.

The 'Naga' was created specifically for the Craft and Design Month Launch Exhibition

The ‘Naga’ is an addition to her ‘power’ collection which has been inspired by extensive research that goes back about 4,000 years with a firm emphasis on snakes and myths spanning both the Americas and Asia.  The bag itself is made with some allegedly ‘magic’ materials and symbolic elements to encompass the female senses.

She will also show a few of her very special pieces including the honey bee bag that has travelled all over the world as an allegory to bee life.

The Honey Bee Bag

On Sunday 22nd May to mark part of the Craft and Design Month celebrations, Nuria is holding a workshop for a maximum of three people, teaching them how to make their own bags.  For further information on this workshop, or to enquire about one at a later date, call Nuria on 0208 354 1361, email info@nurialondon.com or visit her website http://www.nurialondon.com where you can also find see more samples of her work.

The May Farmers’ Market at Orton (Saturday 14 May) celebrated the best of local crafts as part of the national Craft & Design Month and regular stallholders were joined by a potter, a bookbinder and several unusual woodworkers.

Adam Wild, Graham Wheeler and Rowland Woof with their iron and wood creations

Leanne Duerden, Market Manager, explains: “We’ve always had some regular craft producers on the Market, such as Rowland Woof of Ironcraft, Jean Wildish of Tinker Tailors and Sandie Craig of Woadworks, and they’ve been joined recently by Jane Ramsey of Just Jane who recycles and reuses traditional tea services to make cake stands and candles.  For May, we invited several more local craft designers and makers to the market, demonstrating their skills as well as selling their produce.”

Jean Wildish of Tinker Tailors and Helen Golding Miller, bookbinder and conservator

Bob March of Hutton Lodge Pottery at Soulby demonstrated the techniques that he uses to decorate his ceramics, Graham Wheeler of Catterlen near Penrith was selling his mirrors, walking sticks and other wooden products and Orton welcomed back David Grainger of Woodturning in Westmorland– he was a regular until November 2010 when he “retired” from the Farmers’ Market but his woodturning display was as popular as ever on Saturday.

Jane Ramsey, Sandie Craig of Woadworks and Ailsa McDonald (with Jane Chantler's work)

Other craft workers on the market for May were Adam Wild of Wild Wood Gifts with his hardwood bread and cheese boards (including some unusual ones for guitar fans), Jane Chantler with her watercolours and silver jewellery and, probably most unusual of all, Helen Golding Miller of Levens near Kendal with a demonstration of her bookbinding and conservation skills.

Bob March at work on the decoration of a typical Hutton Lodge pottery bowl

“The range of crafts was brilliant and added to the feel of the local produce,” says Leanne.  “The rain kept off too, which always helps on market day.”

The next Orton Farmers’ Market will open at 9.30am until 2pm on Saturday 11 June.  Refreshments are available throughout the day in the Market Hall, at All Saints’ Church and also at Kennedy’s Chocolates café.  The sister market at Pooley Bridge will be on Sunday 29 May from 10am.

Romor Exhibitions has introduced a dedicated designer-maker marquee at the Wrest Park Garden Show which takes place from 28th through to 30th May.  The marquee will feature the best of British crafts to both celebrate and support Craft and Design Month 2011.

Interlocking Bowls by Rebecca A Hill

Exhibitors include exquisite jewellery by Katharine *Aleks, unique glass furniture by Hawkhill Forge & Art Glass, inspiring hats by Bea Brown and sensational glass by Eric Godward.  All work is designed and created by the exhibitors themselves, enabling event visitors to discuss the exceptional work and even commission a piece.

Diana Morrison Designs

With crafts enjoying a renaissance in the UK, this marquee highlights the skill and talent still being nurtured and developed in Britain.  Work may be purchased or commissioned from the designer makers at the show.

Hawkhill Forge & Art Glass

Visit the Romor website for a chance to win free tickets to the show.  See www.romorexhibitions.co.uk