DIGEST: MADE IN BRITAIN SPECIAL, LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL, MIDDLEPORT POTTERY, HIUT DENIM

The FT had a Made in Britain special recently:

Made in Britain, part one: lighting

Building on the country’s strong heritage in industrial engineering, designers are experimenting with new materials and modern techniques. In addition, higher costs and demand for locally sourced products has increasingly seen the production process shift back to the UK from Asia.

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Made in Britain, part two: furniture design

British designers are in demand throughout the world for their skills and high quality craftsmanship. Events such as the London Design Festival and Clerkenwell Design Week attract increasingly large international audiences keen to see, and crucially, buy what UK furniture makers are producing.

This video that features furniture designer Sebastian Cox discussing the closure of furniture courses and Zeev Aram on the absurdity of exporting UK trained talent only to import their designs is also worth a watch.

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Middleport Pottery and its workers

Some may wonder why saving Middleport is so important, given that it is merely one of many factories in the area. The fact is, though, that Middleport is special. It is the only factory left that still uses the finest method (apart from hand-painting) of applying decoration – the 19th-century underglaze transfer printing method, which depends upon hand-engraving the patterns on to rollers.

Image above: Keith Flynn of Middleport Pottery taken by David Severn

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A recent video from Monocle visits Hiut Denim in Wales, as well as a lavender farm

DIGEST: SCISSORS MADE IN SHEFFIELD, INDUSTRIAL PHOTOS IN DERBY, BROOKS AND RCA, LABOUR & WAIT

An informative short video on Ernest Wright & Son, scissor makers based in Sheffield. Many more clips from the series "Paul Martin's Handmade Revolution are available here (BBC)

A photo of the production line at Leys Malleable Castings Company. An exhibition of manufacturing photos is taking place at Format International Photography Festival in Derby, where Leys was based (Guardian)

A refreshing initiative between Brooks, the Midlands based bike saddle maker, and the Royal College of Art. The video is worth watching to see some of the solutions that the students propose (Brooks)

Retailer Labour & Wait is posting a short feature entitled 'Tools of the Trade' each month, in relation to its 2013 calendar. January sees printer Harrington and Squires in the spotlight, February's focus is Creamore Mill and in March, Welsh weavers Elvet Woolen Mill is the subject (Labour & Wait)

DIGEST: CRAFT - BURNGATE STONE, WELSH WEAVING, MUCHELNEY POTTERY, CHAIRMAKING

Nos Da & Bora Da Collection by Donna Wilson & SCP from SCP on Vimeo.
 
At the Burngate Stone Carving Centre (Cos)

The potters of Muchelney (OEN)

On the connection between chair makers Philip Clissett, Ernest Gimson, Edward Gardiner, Neville Neal and Lawrence Neal (Traditional Crafts Blog)

WELSH WEAVERS, STOKE POTTERS AND NORFOLK UPHOLSTERERS : SCP PAPER, ISSUE TWO

SCP, the London based furniture company founded by Sheridan Coakley, sporadically publishes a paper. The latest one was released in April this year and is worth picking up (or downloading in pdf form here) for the information on the craftspeople that the company works with.

The article briefly covers Coakley & Cox Ltd (pictured on the spread above), SCP's own specialist upholstery factory in Norfolk where 'expertise and knowledge are shared and designs are made collectively'.

Also mentioned are hand-made ceramics from Stoke-on-Trent (where SCP uses two factories to make its designs) and textile weaving in Wales. The latter is 'a traditional mill... that has been in the same family for over a century'. According to the paper, SCP has its own yarn specially spun and dyed in Yorkshire that is sent to Wales for weaving.

Thank you to Lucy at SCP for sending over images of the Stoke-on-Trent pottery and Welsh textile weavers. Readers can see more of these on the M&I Facebook page.