Cockpit

Cockpit has been supporting makers for 40 years.⁠ ⁠ As the only remaining specialist craft studios in London, we have enabled generations of makers to thrive creatively & launch successful craft businesses.⁠ ⁠ Join us this @londoncraftweek to be among the first to see a new short film about Cockpit, featuring @helenjohceramics , @majeda_clarke , @yenjewellery , @eleanorlakelin , @woojinstudio & @pasmanowenstudio , alongside portraits of over 50 of our current makers, captured by the brilliant @aluncallenderphoto .⁠ ⁠ THE COCKPIT EFFECT: 40 YEARS OF CRAFT EXCELLENCE⁠ 11 May - Private view⁠ 12 May - Public opening, 12-6pm⁠ ⁠ 🎟️: Register via the link in bio.⁠ ⁠ 🎥: @lucy.emms ⁠ ⁠ #Cockpit40 #MadeatCockpit #londoncraftweek

🎟️ Tickets are now available for Summer Open Studios 2026!⁠ Join us this June as we celebrate 40 years of Cockpit with two weekends of creative inspiration, elevated shopping from local businesses, and inspiring behind-the-scenes moments, including an exclusive auction of 40 incredible objects. ⁠ At Open Studios, you’ll find one-of-a-kind handmade gifts that are perfect for everything from Father’s Day to birthdays and summer weddings. You’ll find jewellery, ceramics, sustainable fashion, sculpture, weaving, wood, leather goods, glass, and so much more.⁠ Come explore our studio buildings, meet world-class makers, and discover a hidden gem of London culture. ⁠ 🌸 Bloomsbury: 4-7 June⁠ 🌺 Deptford: 12-14 June ⁠ Half-price admission for Camden and Lewisham locals.⁠ Newsletter subscribers save 20% so be sure to sign up! ⁠ 🎟️ Book now via our website — link in bio.⁠⁠ Register early to be automatically entered to win £50 to spend at Summer Open Studios! (Ts&Cs apply.)⁠ 🎥: Featuring @lushdesigns_ (filmed by Cockpit alumni @sianzeng ), @tigerseyemosaic , @ kimkim_ceramic, @eleanorlakelin , @richardmcvetis , @helen_brough , @meronwolde_studio , and @angelitaalves . ⁠ #MadeatCockpit #CockpitSummerOpenStudios #Cockpit40

✨️Cockpit Celebrates 40 Years of Supporting Makers✨️⁠ ⁠ This year, Cockpit Studios celebrates our 40th anniversary — marking four decades as one of the UK’s most influential charities for contemporary craft & making.⁠ ⁠ Since 1986, we've provided affordable studio space for makers and helped thousands of creatives to build sustainable careers.⁠ ⁠ We're excited to announce our events programme for the year ahead, which includes exhibitions, Open Studios, fundraisers, tours, and of course a big old party! 🎉🍹⁠ ⁠ Head to our website to learn more.⁠ ⁠ 📸: 1. @inthegrainn , photo: Alun Callender⁠ 2. Cockpit Bloomsbury, photo: Jamie Trounce⁠ 3. @micaweaves , photo: Carmen Gray⁠ 4. @giuliamanzoni.mosaics ⁠ 5. Photo: Carmen Gray⁠ 6. @cluniefretton , photo: Carmen Gray⁠ 7. @yenjewellery , photo: Sophie Mutevelian⁠ 8. @micheleoberdieck , photo: Carmen Gray⁠ 9. @mwmakes , photo: Sherion Mullings⁠ 10. @by.randon , photo: Paul Read⁠ ⁠ #cockpitstudios #cockpit40 #madeatcockpit

✨️#Cockpit40⁠ — 40 Days of Craft 🧵⁠ ⁠ Since 1986, Cockpit has been quietly shaping the UK’s craft landscape, helping thousands of emerging & established makers to build sustainable careers through affordable studio space, wraparound business training & coaching, and a supportive & collaborative community.⁠ ⁠ Over the next 40 days we'll be telling our story — shining a spotlight on our history, our inspiring Alumni, our current maker community, our Awards & Bursaries programme, and much more.⁠ ⁠ What better place to start than with our CEO, Jonathan Burton, introducing Cockpit?⁠ ⁠ 🔗Link in bio to watch the full video.⁠ ⁠ 📽️: @lucy.emms ⁠ ⁠ #MadeatCockpit #CockpitStudios

🌺Summer Open Studios Update 🌺⁠ ⁠ We’re excited to announce our new café partner for Bloomsbury Open Studios! ☕️🥗⁠ ⁠ Fuel your journey through Cockpit with delicious sandwiches & light bites, seasonal salads & mains, and refreshing hot & cold drinks from @the_flavour_kitchen .⁠ ⁠ The Flavour Kitchen is a female-led company, founded in 2013 to cater events for private and corporate clients across London & the South East. Their menus are based on seasonal availability of produce as well as sustainability, with ingredients sourced as locally as possible.⁠ ⁠ Expect colourful, fresh, beautifully presented food!⁠ ⁠ Head to the link in bio to secure your Open Studios tickets now.⁠ ⁠ #cockpitopenstudios #madeatcockpit #cockpit40

✨️ The Cockpit Effect 2026 ⁠✨️⁠ ⁠ As an award-winning social enterprise, Cockpit has been helping independent creative businesses to succeed for 40 years. Each year we measure our impact on our community and the wider craft sector.⁠ ⁠ Although we currently face a challenging environment, the results remain clear — every £1 invested in Cockpit generates £3.90 in value to the local economy and creative businesses.⁠ ⁠ In the past year, Cockpit has delivered 1,838 hours of business support and 614 coaching sessions to over 200 makers across the UK.⁠ Our studios are home to 173 makers working across 25 craft disciplines, and our Awards & Bursaries programme is going strong.⁠ ⁠ Read the full Cockpit Effect report on our website via the link in bio and learn more about how to support our work with makers 🔗⁠ ⁠ Infographic by @yameydesign .⁠ ⁠ #thecockpiteffect #cockpitstudios #socialenterprise #supportingmakers

The Cockpit A to Z of Craft: D is for Dyeing 🌿⁠ ⁠ Welcome to our 40th Anniversary campaign, where each week for 40 weeks we're showcasing a different craft discipline that can be found at Cockpit Studios. This week the spotlight is on dyeing, with Kathryn Tomasetti @botanicalweaves taking centre stage.⁠ ⁠ Natural dyeing is an eco-friendly practice that involves the addition of colour to fibres, yarns, and cloth, specifically with natural dyes from either plants or animals.⁠ ⁠ Kathryn, the founder of Botanical Weaves, is a sustainable natural dyer, handweaver, and eco-printer. She creates bespoke baby wraps, as well as one-of-a-kind textile art and silk scarves eco-printed with seasonal vegetation.⁠ ⁠ A lifelong textile lover, Kathryn began using both natural dyes and weaving in 2021, after carrying her three children in baby wraps and slings. She was immediately smitten and is completely self-taught.⁠ ⁠ Kathryn dyes all of her natural yarns — from recycled cotton to British Blue Faced Leicester wool — using traditional dye plants, such as brilliant blue woad leaves and neon yellow weld flowers, growing them organically in her garden. Her dye work earned her the Cockpit Dyers Award in 2024, sponsored by @thedyerscompany .⁠ ⁠ In tandem with her passion for sustainability and seasonality, Kathryn's fibres are primarily locally sourced or reclaimed. Having grown up between the US and Italy, she credits her love of second-hand materials with the belief that so much of what we need already exists in the world.⁠ ⁠ Learn more about Kathryn's practice in our Maker Directory (link in bio) & visit her in Studio E2I during Bloomsbury Summer Open Studios.⁠ ⁠ 📸: ⁠Photos courtesy @botanicalweaves .⁠ ⁠ #AtoZofCraft #Cockpit40 #MadeatCockpit

What it takes to capture 40 years of craft excellence… 👀 A little BTS from our shoot with @aluncallenderphoto for ‘The Cockpit Effect: 40 Years of Craft Excellence’ ahead of @londoncraftweek . This exhibition celebrates 40 years of Cockpit supporting and championing craftspeople, through photography, film, and craft objects – a truly special showcase you won’t want to miss next week. 11 May | Annual Report launch & exhibition Private View (Invite only) 12 May | Exhibition open, 12–6pm 📍 Cockpit Bloomsbury, WC1N 2NP 📅 11–12 May 🔗 Learn more at the link in bio #londoncraftweek #LCW2026 #Cockpit40

The Cockpit A to Z of Craft: C is for Conservation & Restoration 🏛️ ⁠ Welcome to our 40th Anniversary content series, where every week for 40 weeks we showcase a different craft discipline that can be found at Cockpit. This week is conservation, and @alexanderhammondantiques is in the spotlight. Alex was born in Peru, but grew up among fragments of history. His earliest memories are not of toys, but of tools, his father’s workshop tucked quietly within the courtyard of @burghleyhouse . A man of precision, nothing left his father's bench unless the repair was invisible, unless time itself seemed untouched. That standard became Alex's foundation — restoration not as intervention, but as respect. Behind closed doors, in a world few ever see, Alex watched objects whisper their stories back to life. Surrounded by master conservators of every discipline, he was absorbing, watching, practising & learning, until the language of materials became his own. He learned through touch as much as sight, the weight of an object, the warmth of patina, the quiet truth held in ivory, bone, tortoiseshell, amber, mother of pearl, lacquer. Over time, small intricate pieces gave way to larger works — sculpture, marble, terracotta, bronze, historic furniture — each demanding not only skill but sensitivity. To restore is not only to understand material, but to recognise the hand of the original maker. To honour it without overshadowing it. Conservation is only part of the story. The other is creation — sculpting, shaping & rebuilding what time has taken, until the past feels whole again. In recent years, Alex's focus has shifted to passing on knowledge, sharing not just techniques, but a way of seeing, so that another pair of hands can carry this work forward. Because this craft is more than a profession. It is a quiet act of continuity. We do not just repair objects. We repair memory. And in doing so, we leave something behind that will outlive us all. Learn more about Alex's practice in our Maker Directory (link in bio) & visit him in Studio E1 during Bloomsbury Summer Open Studios.⁠ ⁠ 📸: ⁠Photos by @davidmarquez_photography ⁠ #AtoZofCraft #Cockpit40 #MadeatCockpit

Stunning photos by the one and only @aluncallenderphoto celebrating the 40th anniversary of @cockpitstudios ✨ As part of @londoncraftweek join us at Cockpit Bloomsbury to mark this milestone and celebrate the incredible community that makes Cockpit what it is. I’m thrilled to be exhibiting my Emaranhamento Chair(s) (pictured here) alongside fellow Cockpit makers. A special thank you as well to @obataimu for the beautiful white outfit I wore for the shoot. We’re currently collaborating on a project using their fabric remnants — more to come soon! • Cockpit Yard, Northington St.• 11–12 May 2026 For details and to secure your spot: /whats-on/the-cockpit-effect-40-years-of-craft-excellence/

I am so thrilled my Nest Chair was chosen as the poster child for this Summer Open Studios at Cockpit! We are 170 incredibly talented makers, artists, designers… and I am truly humbled. Please do come visit this incredible community for this special event! It’s a great opportunity to visit the artists in their studios, get to know what it takes for pieces to come to life, and buy directly from the makers. @cockpitstudios