LONDON.- No event is more important to the celebration of cutting-edge, museum-quality craft in the UK than Collect: The International Art Fair for Contemporary Objects. This February, the Crafts Council gathers 40 of the most prestigious galleries together to show more than 400 artists, from 13 countries around the world. Filling the entire Saatchi Gallery, these exceptional works span the spectrum of modern craft practice, ranging from innovative studio pottery to bold, large-scale installations that push material boundaries and explore pressing social and environmental themes.

Right now, craft in the UK and beyond is benefitting from a resurgence of interest, both artistic and economic, as other arts increasingly look to and draw from craft practices; more and more auction houses are incorporating contemporary craft into their sales; and craft objects are commanding higher prices than ever before.

This 14th edition of Collect will, as ever, showcase a full spectrum of museum-quality making and materials, with the 40 selected galleries bringing work from countries including the UK, USA, South Korea, Japan, France, Norway, Italy, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. The exhibiting artists span the leading disciplines of jewellery, textiles, ceramics, furniture, metalsmithing, and glass; as well as presenting work in highly specialist areas such as bookbinding, and unusual materials including paper, willow, vellum and lacquer.

‘As we look forward to this 14 th edition of Collect, the international market for contemporary craft has never been more buoyant. This is reflected in a record number of exhibiting galleries this year, representing leading artists and makers from four continents.

British studio ceramics have been enjoying something of a moment, celebrated in a slew of recent exhibitions and major publications. In response, a new element at the fair, Masters of British Studio Pottery, will showcase masterpieces and rare works from some of the biggest names in British 20th century ceramics.

And, as ever, we’re proud to introduce fresh new talent alongside established artists, cementing Collect’s reputation as the place to spot the stars of the future.’ – Annie Warburton, Creative Director, Crafts Council

Highlights from Collect’s 2018 gallery selection are detailed below, as well as details on what to expect from the fair’s other core elements – including the unique installations of Collect Open, the landmark makers of Masters of British Studio Pottery, the artists of Collect Spotlights, and the ever-insightful Collect Talks programme.

Since the inaugural edition in 2004, Collect has chronicled the rising prestige of contemporary craft in all its forms – including ceramics. At the launch in 2004, two relatively little-known names, Edmund de Waal and Julian Stair, presented their work. Today, they are widely known far beyond the craft sector. In the decade that has followed, a massive surge of interest in ceramics has transformed it into one of the most widely admired and in-demand disciplines in modern making, with recent auctions attracting prices unheard of 10 years ago.

One of those early exhibitors, Julian Stair, whose work is now held in more than 30 public collections, returns to Collect with debut exhibitor Oxford Ceramics Gallery, presenting vessels and large-scale pots that instill an awareness of the body in the viewer as they move among them. From Belgium, Spazio Nobile will present a solo show of Piet Stockmans, who celebrates 30 years of working in ceramics. Known for his dramatic installation of numbers and fragments, he has inspired a generation of artists to push the versatility and vulnerability of porcelain.

London-based gallery Ting-Ying marks its first Collect appearance with a collection of contemporary Blanc de Chine pieces made in China’s Dehua County, Fujian Province, whereas Milan’s ESH Gallery debuts with a showcase of contemporary Japanese artists, including Yoichiro Kameim, one of the youngest ever winners of the Grand Prize at the Asahi Ceramics Fair, and the influential ceramicist Sueharu Fukami, who strives to leave no signs of human making in his work.

Recent Winner of the Woman’s Hour Craft Prize Phoebe Cummings, who typically works in unfired clay, will be exhibiting with Joanna Bird Contemporary Collections, alongside her co-finalist, the vellum sculptor Laura Youngson Coll, known for her sculptural explorations of human biology at a microscopic level.

European glass is especially well represented, with London Glassblowing Gallery showing the work of nine of Britain's most highly respected glass-blowing artists, including world-renowned glassblower Peter Layton and newcomer Monette Larsen, winner of the London Glassblowing Emerging Talent Prize. Vessel Gallery brings a survey of leading contemporary glass from Europe and the UK, including the Swedish artist Lena Bergstrom – known for the soft, organic contours of her work and her embrace of accident and happenstance –and the internationally acclaimed glass duo Baldwin & Guggisberg, who have worked together for over 35 years.

Stockholm’s Widell Projects’ presentation includes the radical glasswork of Fredrik Nielsen, whose experimental sculptures draw on pop culture and playful kitsch; whereas US producer Bullseye Projects presents a wide-ranging selection of kiln-blown pieces, as well as work by the artist Jeff Zimmer, who uses painting, etching and degrees of transparency to create shifting scenes that offer an oblique commentary on contemporary society.

Always a fascinating area of discovery for established collectors and newcomers alike, contemporary art jewellery continues to evolve as a platform for challenging material values and to explore intriguing concepts. From the Netherlands, Galerie Marzee has devoted 40 years to celebrating jewellery’s dimension as an art form – its annual Marzee International Graduation Show has impacted the careers of artists throughout the world. This year, Marzee’s selection includes work by the German artist Dorothea Prühl, whose sculptural jewellery pieces exemplify her philosophy that an artwork needs no meaning outside itself, while the UK’s Gallery S O features artists including wearable pieces by Switzerland’s irrepressibly playful David Bielander and UKbased Paralympic medal designer (and recent Woman’s Hour Craft Prize finalist) Lin Cheung. Appearing for the first time, The Goldsmiths’ Fair presents 15 British artists at the forefront of modern gold- and silversmithing.

This year’s galleries include many artists employing inventive and unconventional materials and applications. Showing with Guilded, metalsmith (and wild swimmer) Kari Furre has pioneered the use of fish leather in her sculpture. Harry Morgan, showing with Scotland: Craft & Design, pairs concrete and glass, and fellow exhibitor Isabelle Moore has woven shark-fishing wire into her furniture. 50 Golborne presents South Africa’s Ubuhle women’s collective, who interweave Czech glass beads into their black-fabric ndwangos. To achieve the glossy lacquered finish of his sculptures, the artist Takeshi Igawa of Joanna Bird Contemporary Collections sources the sap of the sumac tree. Showing with Italy’s Officine Saffi, ceramic artist Robert Cooper incorporates found objects such as pottery shards foraged from the shores of the Thames, whereas Elliot Walker of the UK’s Vessel Gallery gives his glass pieces an ethereal glow through the inclusion of uranium.

Alongside the core Collect exhibits, visitors can also expect to see a host of special features and satellite programmes – including perennial favourites such as Collect Open, recent additions such as Collect Spotlights, and an exclusive new addition to the fair for 2018: Masters of British Studio Pottery.