Open Call for Artists and Makers
"What Stays"
We are excited to announce an open call for artists and makers to participate in our upcoming exhibition at London Craft Week (May 2027). Our exhibition, What Stays, explores how materials hold memory, time, and human experience, considering what remains beyond the act of making and how objects continue to carry meaning in our lives.
About the Theme
What Stays invites visitors to reflect on what remains after something is made.
This exhibition shifts attention from the moment of creation to what happens over time. Through use, ageing, repair, and change, objects begin to gather traces of touch and experience. Marks, wear, and subtle transformations become part of the work itself, revealing a quieter narrative that unfolds gradually.
Featuring a mix of traditional and experimental practices across textiles, ceramics, metalwork, and mixed media, the exhibition brings together works that exist beyond a fixed state. Visitors are encouraged to consider how materials evolve, how meaning shifts through time, and how objects can hold both personal and collective memory.
Through carefully considered displays, What Stays invites reflection on presence rather than perfection. It highlights the ongoing relationship between maker, material, and user, recognising craft as something that continues to live, change, and resonate long after it is completed.
What We Are Looking For
We invite artists and makers working across diverse craft disciplines to apply, including but not limited to:
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Jewellery & Metalwork
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Glass & Ceramics
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Textiles & Weaving
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Wood & Paper Arts
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Basketry & Leatherwork
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Stone & Mixed Media
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Experimental & Digital Craft
We welcome works that:
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Explore how materials hold traces of time, use, and transformation.
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Engage with memory, whether personal, collective, or embedded within materials.
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Reflect processes of ageing, repair, repetition, or change.
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Consider the ongoing life of objects beyond their initial making.
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Invite a closer awareness of how objects carry presence, experience, and connection.
We are particularly interested in works that consider what remains,
whether through material sensitivity, process, or the evolving relationship between object and user.
Join the Creative Journey
Are you a creative soul eager to showcase your talent and ideas to a captivated audience? We welcome you to participate in our Open Call for the London Craft Week 2026. Our exhibition will run from May 2027 (Exact date TBC) at 9 Caledonian Rd, London N1 9DX. Submit your projects, installations, and concepts, and stand a chance to be featured in this internationally acclaimed event. Embrace the opportunity to connect with fellow designers, industry professionals, and design enthusiasts.
To ensure the highest level of curation and support for the selected projects, there is a participating fee for each artist.
Category:
1) 2D Art £280
2) 3D Art & Installation Art £380
Fee covers:
- Wall space, installation, and curation.
- Private viewing
- Event documentation provided (photos, videos).
- Collective promotion and marketing.
- Labels and packaging for your works using your original.
We take 0% commission from every sale.
6 Awards will be presented
Material Narrative Award
(in partnership with
Art and Materials Lab)
Celebrating works where meaning is carried through material and process rather than explanation. This award recognises practices where transformation, surface, and structure communicate story, memory, or place. The work speaks through making, revealing intention in every material decision.
Crafted Soul Award
Honouring craft as lived experience. This award celebrates works where emotion, memory, and care are embedded within the act of making itself. Process, tactility, and sensitivity to material shape how the work is felt as much
as how it is seen.
Rising Star Jewellery Award
(in partnership with AUTOR)
Recognising an emerging voice in contemporary jewellery with a strong personal vision. This award celebrates originality, conceptual clarity, and the potential to shape the future of the field.
Invisible Labour Award
Recognising works that reveal the time, care, and repetition often hidden within craft. This award celebrates practices where process, effort, and human presence remain visible in the finished work.
Unconventional Practice Award
Celebrating practices that challenge disciplinary boundaries through hybrid forms, experimental processes, and self-initiated approaches. This award recognises makers who redefine craft through alternative methods, contexts, or ways of working.
Curator's Choice Award
Selected by the curatorial team for its outstanding contribution to the exhibition’s theme, execution, and relevance within contemporary cultural discourse.
How to apply?
To apply, please submit the following:
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A brief description of your project.
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Artist Statement (max 150 words) explaining your practice and how your work relates to the theme.
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Up to 5 high-quality images of your work with captions including title, materials, and dimensions.
Submission Deadline: 15 January 2027, 23:59GMT.
You will receive a response within seven working days of submitting your application.
Please note: All submissions will be carefully reviewed by our curatorial team, and only selected works will be included in the exhibition. Participation is by selection, not by payment. Only artworks submitted and approved during the application process will be eligible for display. No substitutions or unapproved works will be accepted.
How to Participate
Submitting your work is easy!
Complete the Open Call registration form. Share your vision, passion, and portfolio, and let your creativity shine. We are on the lookout for groundbreaking concepts that challenge convention and inspire awe.
Application Fee: £5
Please note that the application fee is non-refundable.