Lab Craft features 26 makers who combine the hand, mind and eye, technical mastery of tools and materials and aesthetic sensibility, with cutting-edge digital technologies such as rapid prototyping, laser cutting, laser scanning and digital printing. It explores the use of technology as an extension to the capabilities of the human hand.

The exhibition is curated by design commentator Max Fraser, in partnership with the Crafts Council, and designed by maker Tomoko Azumi. It includes work by some of the most experimental names in craft and design including; Tord Boontje, Michael Eden, Gareth Neal, Timorous Beasties and Nina Tolstrup, with many showing new work. It features textiles, ceramics, furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting and much more.
Two commissioned films will accompany the exhibition; one exploring process, showing footage of work being produced using a range of the new technologies and the other will be a series of talking heads with the exhibited makers and key figures in the field of digital making.

Lab Craft presents the imagined as real objects. As the human touch is considered a pivotal anchor in the definition of craft, is this made redundant amid the adoption of digital tools? Does digital perfection allow space for the great charm of mistakes? Far be it from spelling the end of craft as we know it, Lab Craft presents an exciting extension to the maker’s toolbox by showcasing a variety of items that utilise digital technologies, wholly or in part, in pursuit of pioneering new outcomes.

Monday to Friday: 10am – 6pm
Saturday: 9.30am – 3.30pm
Closed Sundays, Bank Holidays and during exhibition changeover.