Neil Thomas reports on a Shropshire organisation showcasing some of the region’s best craftspeople and artists.
Art so often adds beauty to the world. It has the power to please the eye and make us think. And when art is married with function, it becomes part of our everyday lives. Chairs, tables, bowls, lanterns, vases and so on, have very practical uses – but they can be objects of striking beauty too. Or perhaps of such unusual design they become conversation-starters.
A Shropshire artistic collective very much subscribes to this concept. You might say it is the principal driving force of its membership.
Utility and artistic design were once natural bedfellows. Early televisions were small screens encased in walnut cabinets. They were part of the furniture. Now they are merely huge screens that dominate the furniture. Radio sets were mini works of art. The Bakelite telephone was a thing of beauty. It may be a million times more useful, but can you really say the same of your mobile? It is partly why glossy films of the 1950s – or modern dramas set in that era – retain their appeal.
Perhaps for members of Shropshire Guild of Contemporary Crafts, that world never truly vanished. It is a world they have, of course, modernised, as the ‘contemporary’ in the name indicates. Yet they are skilled in crafts which are, in many cases, centuries-old and evoke in us that most powerful of emotions – nostalgia.
Their wide-ranging work encompasses art for art’s sake as well as art combined with function and fashion.
This year marks a significant milestone for the organisation – its 25th anniversary. It will bring with it a change of name to Shropshire Guild of Designer Makers to more reflect the fact that members are sole traders who handle all aspects of the process from the creative look of a piece, to its manufacture, to its promotion and sale. When you admire and buy a product on a stall at a Guild show, you will invariably meet the person who made it.
It promises to be a lively 2026 for the Guild with several events already planned. Showing Off at Much Wenlock’s Priory Hall on 23 and 24 May will see the Guild’s designer makers showcase their work and meet potential customers.
The Guild’s Biennial Exhibition will be staged the Willow Gallery in Oswestry, running from 4 July to 29 August.
Showing Off returns to the Priory Hall in Much Wenlock for its autumn edition on 17 and 18 October.
And the 21st annual instalment of the Gorgeous Christmas Designer Maker Fair is scheduled to take place in Ironbridge on 21 and 22 November, venue and dates subject to confirmation.
“Our events are always very well-supported, of which we are very appreciative,” says Guild chair Caroline Bennett. “The Guild is now an established part of life in the county and Showing Off, our annual exhibition and, in particular, Gorgeous which gives people the chance to hunt for lovely and unusual gift ideas in the run-up to Christmas, are firm fixtures in Shropshire’s calendar.”
Explaining the Guild’s background and ethos, Caroline says: “It was formed in 2001 with the help of Shropshire Council and the Arts Council. The idea was to promote, display and sell the work of designer makers working in Shropshire. Our members use traditional skills and techniques, alongside innovative modern methods, to produce beautiful contemporary work of the highest calibre.
“There are currently 25 of us, with a range of specialities including ceramics, furniture, glass, jewellery, textiles and sculpture. Because many of our members work in isolation in a studio, the Guild offers a strong support network. It is an important platform for collectively promoting our work to a wider public.”
Caroline, herself, is an established sculptor and ceramicist whose home and workshop near Bridgnorth is a five-acre hillside smallholding with stunning views of the hamlet of Willey and its surrounding countryside.
As with many artists and craftspeople, a hobby became a livelihood. Born and raised in the South East of England, Caroline’s first career was in the publishing industry, agent for a printing company working with book products with involvement in the printing and binding process.
“I had always done pottery as a pastime, going to evening classes and so on. I can throw and I enjoyed working with clay,” she says. Indeed, she has a degree in Fine Art (Sculpture) from the University of East London.
Caroline had already been contemplating a change of direction when she inherited some property, which gave her the financial leeway to give up her publishing career to concentrate on her art.
“Unlike many artists who give up their careers to follow their dream, I was in the fortunate position of not having to make it pay right from the start.”
With the South East becoming more and more intensively developed, Caroline and her partner looked for a more tranquil location – and fell in love with their current home.
Despite much of her life being lived in and around the capital, the move to rural Shropshire in 1998 was not the culture shock you might imagine.
“I grew up in the Essex countryside surrounded by sheep. I grew up with a love of the country life,” she reflects.
Cementing her new career choice, she set about adding to her skill set, enrolling for an HND course in Ceramics at Dudley School of Art.
Meanwhile, the smallholding became a home for sheep, llamas and alpacas. “I love llamas,” Caroline enthuses with a broad smile. “I’m not sure where it comes from exactly; it probably stems from reading a children’s story, Tin Tin or Dr Doolittle.”
Because there is no production line involved, Caroline’s work is very individual – pieces are not symmetrical meaning no two are the same. The result is a unique range of figurative and free-flowing sculptures for the house and garden.
“I work principally in clay. I actually got rid of my potter’s wheel and now work in a different way, using a wide range of techniques from coil and slab building to throwing and slip casting.
“Much of my work is inspired by observations of the environment and the gentle shapes and recurring patterns in nature. I started out going down the trade route, doing a lot of commercial stuff, working with other people’s ideas. Nowadays my work is centred around my own ideas.”
Some of her sculptures, as well as being visually striking, have a practical turn, such as stools and seats, while others are objets d’art. As some are designed for use in gardens and other outdoor spaces, all her sculptures are frost proof.
Caroline regularly visited London shows of fine art and crafts to sell her work, but not so much nowadays as local and website sales have grown. As well as the Guild, she is a member of Shropshire Visual Art Network and the Midlands Potters Association.
She has been involved in the Guild since its early days and served as treasurer before being elected chair in 2013. In that time the Guild has expanded its activities, never afraid to learn from other groups and borrow good ideas. For instance, Ludlow Designer Makers group originated the Showing Off event, which the Guild has replicated with great success.
Though most members are aged over 40 – perhaps reflecting the reality that artistic and craft-based careers often start in midlife – there are younger artists in the group, including one in their 20s.
“It is important to try to attract younger members to safeguard the future of the Guild. We welcome any new applications to join us,” Caroline adds.
Exhibitors for each Guild event are carefully selected to ensure a diverse range of products with both affordable and higher priced items across a range of disciplines; every item on display reflects an exceptionally high level of craftsmanship and design.
Bob and Janet Shelton are, for instance, furniture and chair makers, with a workshop set amongst woodland on the Shropshire/Wales border just outside Oswestry.
“Our furniture is based on traditional designs, beautifully made but often using the character of the wood to inspire an unusual twist giving a contemporary feel to the old designs,” Bob explains. “Windsor chairs of all shapes and sizes and Welsh stick chairs are our favourites, but we also make all sorts of other free-standing furniture.”
Susan Mulcock is a felt-maker whose wide range includes wearable accessories and vessels to more traditional, two-dimensional, landscape art. Having worked with wool and drawn and painted landscapes for many years, she found that felt-making was an ideal medium to show the depth, colour and texture of her subjects.
From her studio in the heart of the Shropshire countryside Amanda Hillier creates fine art lino prints and mixed media illustrations inspired by places with emotional connections. She supplies galleries across Shropshire and Herefordshire and runs printing classes for organisations across the country. She is also a published illustrator worldwide for clients such as National Geographic and RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds).
Jill Bagnall creates studio glass, exploiting its bold colours and exciting visual properties to produce unique, one-off pieces.
She reflects: “My style is certainly informed by a geometric, balanced, aesthetic, underpinned by the opportunity to explore almost endless combinations of colour from tonal variations to striking opposites.”
Jill works from her studio nestled between Long Mountain and the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and runs popular glass fusing workshops at her local community hall.
Based near Oswestry, on the beautiful Shropshire/Welsh border, textile specialist Jane Hunter reflects the natural environment both in colour and texture through printing and dyeing fabrics.
She says: “I use these fabrics to create a range of garments and accessories. Eco-printing is one of the methods that I really enjoy using as it can give amazing prints with lots of detail and releases a wonderful range of surprising colours from foliage and flowers. I use materials found in the landscape and my garden, keeping a close connection with the natural world. An important part of my work is to reuse and upcycle garments and fabrics giving them a second life and making my practice gentle on the environment.”
Glass artist Jane Murphy works from her rural home near Much Wenlock, nestled next to Wenlock Edge.
“My first business was based in Church Stretton where I worked with slip cast plant pots and other fancy goods,” she explains. “On moving to South Africa, we set up a business decorating tiles and manufacturing hand painted ceramic transfers for the tile industry. When we returned to the UK in 2007, I started to work with glass using techniques learnt from our previous business. I am interested in screen printed surface decoration on simple slumped shapes.”
Jane mostly sells her work at art markets where she enjoys meeting customers.
Textile artist Jenny O’Leary works with Batik-hot wax resist, mainly on tissue paper combining it with bleach, inks and dyes and sometimes stitch, to create beautiful surfaces and textures. Landscape, its shapes, details, colours and textures, are her main source of inspiration, particularly that of Shropshire and the Welsh border where she lives. Collage and layering are an important part of much of her work.
Working from her studio on the Shropshire/Herefordshire border near Ludlow, Vicky Ware designs and makes rustic, contemporary ceramics. From beads to basins, mugs to bread pots, toast racks to tiles, plates for chefs – indeed any commissions that come her way.
“I use a number of different clays, including a lovely gritty, toasty coloured wild clay. I have been a working potter for more than 20 years and I never tire of the joy of holding and shaping by hand a lump of clay that has come from the earth and making something useful from it,” she explains. “Many of my pieces are hand built which gives a wonderful tactile and raw quality to the object and imperfections that enhance the integrity of the finished work. I throw the bread pots on a traditional pottery wheel.”
A member of the Craft Potters Association, Vicky finds inspiration for colours and texture on coastal walks – sand, lichen covered rocks and rock pools. She is influenced daily by the world outside her pottery studio – a landscape of open moorland, pine forests and mountain streams.
Bridgnorth-based Malcolm Morris is a contemporary jewellery designer maker. He designs bespoke pieces in gold and silver, has his own range of jewellery and makes engagement rings and wedding rings to commission.
Another jeweller, Much Wenlock’s Michelle Pullen-Lockley, always wanted to produce and sell her own designs and see someone wearing one of her handcrafted pieces.
“I worked in the jewellery industry for over 30 years but always on other people’s creations,” explains Michelle. “I decided to finally take the plunge and start my own venture, DuBelle Jewellery, specialising in luxury stone-set and plain silver products.”
She said that as an independent jeweller, she could offer her customers a much more personal buying experience and that every piece she sold was unique and came in bespoke packaging.
Julia Foggin works from her beautiful workshop and gallery called MIST in the Ironbridge Gorge. She is based at the Maws Craft Centre, Jackfield, where she designs and makes her distinctive hammered silver jewellery, from tiny ear studs to intricately-constructed statement pieces.
Julia has a degree in Graphic design. After working in the industry for several years she enrolled on some silversmithing courses. Once trained she decided to make it her career and continues exploring and expanding her repertoire.
She adds: “Silversmithing is in my blood! Like my blacksmith ancestors, I love manipulating and forming metal. I beat silver into delicate, organic shapes adding freshwater pearls with irregular characteristics and colourful gemstones to create unique, highly feminine jewellery.”
Paul Jaques’ work spans painting, printmaking, sculpture and furniture. He explains: “I like the idea that several disciplines can contribute to a final piece whether it be sculpture or furniture. I particularly favour a combination of wood and bronze. Both enhance each other in many ways. Work can be figurative or abstract or a combination of both.”
Working predominantly in silver, often in combination with other natural materials, Sara Piper Heap creates beautiful jewellery and tableware featuring contrasts in colour and texture. Working from her studio on the Shropshire/Wales border near Oswestry, Sara aims to create display pieces for the table that are visually striking, designed using simple clean lines and regular geometric shapes.
“Whilst endeavouring to be sculptural, the aesthetic appeal and clarity of form is of primary importance. However, an element of function must also be present,” she adds.
Other Guild members are weaver Jude Gilchrist, textile artist Clare Linford, metal and glass artist Annie Stokes, textile artist Chrissie Menzies, ceramicist Ed Brown, textile artist Nicola Rudd, jewellery maker Sue Chadwick, textile artist Sue Christian, jewellery maker Fiona Jackson, metal designer Duncan Cooper and printmaker and wood engraver Ellie Cliftlands.
The Guild encourages the finest design ability coupled with the highest quality of workmanship within its membership, whilst aiming to promote a greater appreciation of design-led craftwork. In its pursuit of excellence, it enriches all our lives.
