15 new makers have joined the Cockpit community so far this year. Here are the NEW FACES you need to know about as you plan your visit to Summer Open Studios, from furniture designers to metalsmiths to papermakers and stone carvers.
Be sure to check out their maker profiles, subscribe to their mailing lists, and follow them on social media. It’s time to discover your new favourite Cockpit maker!
Caitlin Maxwell Hughan
Caitlin Maxwell Hughan joined Cockpit on the 2023 Grant-Turnstone Award. Caitlin is a textile designer whose practice focuses on fostering ‘farm to fibre’ connections across agriculture, manufacturing and design. With a background in knit, she has pioneered a novel yarn dying method for producing patterned yarns for various textile techniques. Caitlin is particularly interested in using colour and fibre to make yarns for the performance industry.
Gul Rasool joined Cockpit on the 2023 Newby Trust Award. She is a fine furniture designer and maker whose work sits at the intersection of beauty and functionality. Gul Yasin Studio pieces aim to connect people to the beauty of the landscape and the provenance of the material they are made from. Her beautiful and functional designs are as much about material integrity, ecology and story, as they are about beauty.
Isabel Castro Jung joined Cockpit on the 2023 Newby Trust Award. A German-Spanish visual artist and artist educator based in London, UK, Isabel work has been exhibited internationally and focuses on immersive performance sculpture, participatory live art and creative workshops. In her work, she merges the realms of textiles and ceramics to create wearable sculptures that challenge conventional norms and explore narratives around migration, heritage, gender and its influence on identity and belonging.
Lois Lo joined Cockpit on the 2023 Make It Award. Lois is a jewellery maker specialising in laser welding, combining medical-grade stainless steel with smoky quartz, topaz and synthetic gems in her elegant designs. Inspired by architecture, she constructs her jewellery with structures that highlight the often-overlooked facets of gemstones, crafting unique settings with meticulous attention to detail.
Luciana Bohm joined Cockpit on the 2023 Radcliffe Emerging Maker Award. She is a metalsmith artist exploring the alchemy of metal through research and experimentation with metal fusion. Drawing inspiration from a Japanese mixed precious and non-precious metals laminate fusion technique called Mokume-gane, Luciana creates objects and sculptures inspired by abstract expressions of nature and personal evolution.
Mandy Brannan joined Cockpit on a 2023 Arts Society GLA Bursary. Mandy is a London-based hand papermaker and book artist whose approach takes inspiration from the natural and built environment and incorporates the experimental use of found materials. Her practice combines both the Japanese and Western papermaking methods of sheet formation to create experimental patterns and layers that push the boundaries of tradition.
Oliver Snelling
Oliver Snelling joined Cockpit on the 2023 Make It Award. Oliver is a stone carver and sculptor who specialises in lettering and the creation of monumental works. With a focus on figurative, architectural motifs and lettering, almost all of his work can be found within the public sphere.
Saffy McNamara joined Cockpit on the 2023 Haberdasher’s Award. Saffy is a English/Irish textile artist whose interest in folklore and traditional craft influence her explorations of the whimsical, eccentric and humorous aspects of storytelling through knit. Her unique visual and tactile language communicates emotions, memories and experiences, particularly focused on folklore and unusual aspects of human existence.
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Read Part 1 of NEW FACES: JAN-MAR 2024.
Explore the directory of Cockpit makers here.
