Some 47% of jobs in the craft sector are at risk due to the economic ravages of Covid-19. Committing to a creative career is a risky endeavour at the best of times; sustaining one in the midst of a global pandemic as youth unemployment reaches a four-decade high is nigh on impossible.

Creativity, they say, thrives in the face of adversity and, for Cockpit Arts’ community of 146 London makers, a new digital winter festival offers a vision of renewal and a more inclusive, creative economy.

Central London’s only dedicated craft studios, Cockpit has proved itself to be a resourceful, resilient and socially-minded incubator of new talent for three decades. In any other year, the makers based at its two sites in Holborn and Deptford would now be looking forward to welcoming as many as 6,500 visitors through their doors for an Open Studios Christmas event. But 2020 had other ideas.

Faced with the impossibility of operating the event as usual, Cockpit Arts CEO Annie Warburton and her team have adapted the Open Studios concept to create a winter Makers’ Market, a new online marketplace and digital event to showcase and sell 500+ products crafted by Cockpit’s gifted makers.
Cockpit Makers’ Market

Lucy McGrath working in her studio. Photo by James Winspear.
Over 100 makers and 500+ contemporary craft products, from £3.65 – £5,800

Going live on Thursday 26 November, the Cockpit Makers’ Market provides a vital retail platform for makers – as well as giving the public the chance to get their hands on exceptional craft gifts for this festive season.

Cockpit has always been the destination to discover fresh talent on the cusp of career success – and the new online emporium features virtuoso makers across the spectrum of craft disciplines: from contemporary ceramics to fine jewellery, from hand-printed cards to handwoven textiles, and from bespoke leather goods to bespoke kitchen knives. There are a host of more unusual disciplines, too, including millinery, mosaic and Moroccan Zouaq painting.