Presented by the Crafts Council, Collect 2025 is a dynamic celebration of cutting-edge craft and design. An unparalleled opportunity for collectors, enthusiasts, interior designers, art advisors and curators to discover the most exciting names in the sector, visitors can expect to see a huge range of innovative pieces in ceramic, glass, lacquer, metal, textiles, wood and paper. Featuring 40 international galleries – 8 that are new to this year’s fair – over 400 living artists from more than 30 countries including South Korea, Japan, Ukraine, South Africa, Greece, Canada, the UK, and beyond will be represented. In addition, Collect partner the Loewe Foundation will presents their 2024 Craft Prize Winner.

Alongside the galleries, Collect Open, is the fair’s platform for experimental installations by individual artists and collectives. This year, ten exciting projects will be on display. London-based interior architecture and design practice Spinocchia Freund is a partner of Collect Open. 

The fair takes place from 28th February to 2nd March 2025 (with previews on 26th and 27th February) at Somerset House, a historical setting that provides the perfect backdrop. Here are some of the highlights to look out for this year. 

1882 Ltd.

Design-driven British ceramics brand 1882 Ltd. embraces an ethos where no structural, sculptural or finishing challenge is impossible. Rooted in heritage craftsmanship, it fuses innovative artistry with centuries-old skills that redefine contemporary ceramics. Each piece, handcrafted by master potters at 1882 Ltd’s factory in Stoke-on-Trent, marries traditional craftsmanship with innovative thought, pushing designs to create both functional objects and sculptural art. Challenging the material’s limits and the potters’ expertise and artistic ingenuity, each piece has a playfulness of form, pattern, colour and texture.

This year, 1882 Ltd. is showing one-off and limited editions by leading British creatives including furniture designer Max Lamb, ceramicist Leah Jensen, and couture designer Giles Deacon, as well as music legend Robbie Williams, whose drawings of Jesus and The Pope were brought to life by 1882 Ltd.’s craftsmen in Stoke-on-Trent, Williams’ childhood hometown.

1882ltd.com

Galerie Melissa Paul 

Founded in 2018, the gallery is the brainchild of Mélissa Paul, who, having started as an antique dealer in Paris flea markets, developed a passion and subsequently an in depth knowledge of contemporary art and craft. This background has enabled her to assemble an unmatched collection of innovative sculptural pieces alongside an inventory of 20th Century furniture. Unifying a group of emerging and established artists, the gallery offering highlights the interplay between a diverse range of practices, materials, periods and aesthetics, all of which representative the remarkable richness of craft and design.

Showing for the first time at Collect, Galerie Mélissa Paul presents the inaugural UK solo show by French ceramicist and sculptor Agnes Debizet, who for the past 40 years has made a global name for herself thanks to her unusual approach to ceramics. Pieces include ceramic furniture and scaled up clay sculptures inspired by fungi.

galerie-melissa-paul.com

AIFA

The Swiss-based gallery AIFA focuses on Japanese contemporary art. For Collect 2025, it will present the work of three young female ceramists, Sayuri Ikake, Chisato Yasui and Teruri Yamawaki, who are venturing beyond the conventional boundaries of their medium.

The direct successors of a wave of female artists who emerged after World War II, who were practising a traditionally male-dominated art form dating back to the Jomon period (c. 14,000 and 300 BC), these three artists combine ancestral Japanese techniques with modern artistic style that challenges and redefines not only traditional Japanese ceramics but also the boundary between art and crafts. The exhibition celebrates their individual skills, as well as emphasising changing attitudes towards the recognition of women in the art world.

aifa.art

SHAM Gallery

SHAM Gallery was founded 2024 by Charmaine Beneyto. Embodying a grassroots, experimental approach, it serves as a platform that aims to defy the status quo of the traditional art world, and to empower and elevate underrepresented artists, with a focus on amplifying the voices of female, black, queer, non-binary, disabled and marginalised creators.

For this years’ fair, SHAM Gallery will present, ‘Ritual’, a site-specific installation alongside wearable designs and mini concept store, ‘The Baby Sham’. ‘Ritual’ will see three artists, Elena Hoskyns-Abrahall, Sadie Clayton and Ruby Taglight come together to explore how faith, worship and devotion plays out and how the artists grapple with identity, gender, sexuality, marginalisation and power. Though each artist employs unique techniques in with metalwork, they are unified by the concepts that underpin their practices. Each artist will present key works as well as brand new pieces designed exclusively for Collect 2025.

sham-gallery.com

Vessel Gallery

Established in Notting Hill, London, in 1999, Vessel Gallery showcases an exceptional collection of unique and limited-edition art glass, decorative lighting, and sculptures by leading British and international talents. Renowned for its curated blend of Scandinavian crystal, Italian art glass, and bespoke creations, the gallery also produces exclusive collections in collaboration with emerging and established designers. Vessel also provides bespoke consulting for interior and corporate projects, enabling clients to commission unique works, while serving as a key resource for artists, museums, and collectors, with many pieces entering prestigious public collections through its exhibitions and advocacy.

The gallery will show the work of Chris Day, which presents a compelling narrative about the civil rights movement and racism in the UK. A plumber turned glass artist, this second career explores experiences of being mixed race / dual identity in the UK.

vesselgallery.co.uk

Bluerider ART

Bluerider ART was founded in 2013 by Elsa Wang, an IT entrepreneur turned art dealer in Taipei. With two galleries in the city, in 2021 she subsequently set up a space in Shanghai followed by another in London’s Mayfair district in 2023. Today she represents over 50 international contemporary artists.

Showing at Collect for the first time, the gallery’s presentation, entitled ‘Exploring Material Diversity and the Boundless Potential of Art’, highlights how artists employ diverse materials such as paper, textile, acrylic glass, wood, and metal, transforming them into pieces that showcase the intersection between materials and art. Names include Norwegian installation artist Kari Anne Helleberg Bahri, who uses old clothes, rags and fragments of fabrics to create textile art. Focusing on themes of limitations, expectations, regulations and isolation, the pieces represent  subjects that individuals face in collective society.

blueriderart.com

Wanbing Huang

Wanbing Huang reimagines China’s rich cultural traditions through a contemporary lens. A Central Saint Martin’s alumna, her groundbreaking art explores the interplay between physical materials and intangible cultural meaning.

For Collect Open, Wanbing will present ‘The Entropy Reduction of Hundun’ – a series of handcrafted textile installations inspired by the ancient Chinese myth of Hundun, where the breaking of chaos led to the creation of the world. Huang’s sensitivity to indigenous cultures and universal human experiences infuses her work with profound wisdom, bridging traditional and contemporary art forms with a deep respect for storytelling.

A 2023 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize finalist, Huang’s work has gained global recognition for its emotional depth and universal resonance. Her pieces were showcased at the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize exhibition and selected for the LOEWE Crafted World exhibition in 2024.

wanbinghuang.com

Chris Turrell

Chris Turrell has been working with clay for over 30 years. Alongside his studio practice, he has taught at institutions such as Central St Martins and the University of Brighton and worked with the Liverpool Biennial and consulting with Turner Prize-winning collective, Assemble. In 2014, he founded Baltic Clay, a ceramics studio in Liverpool, which offers both ceramic classes for beginners and drop-in access for more experienced potters. This studio has become a creative hub, fostering a community of ceramic enthusiasts.

For Collect Open 2025, Chris will be making a new body of work – his most ambitious to date. A conversation will consist of 6 ‘portraits’ of queer creatives – film maker Derek Jarman, raconteur Quentin Crisp, poet Wilfred Owen, painter Francis Bacon, performer Leigh Bowery and ceramicist Angu Suttie – that had a significant impact on him as a teenager growing up in the 1980’s.

ctwceramics.squarespace.com

www.craftscouncil.org.uk/collect-fair

We hope our guide has inspired you to visit Collect this year. If you have found it useful, do check out some of our other recent blog posts here.

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