Craft Centre of Great Britain

The Craft Centre of Great Britain was established in 1948 with the purpose of “the preservation, promotion and improvement of fine craftsmanship in Great Britain.” It created direct links between individual producers and industry, and encouraged young people to take up crafts through education and instruction. Prominent members included Bernard Leach, Lilian Dring and Tibor Reich.

History
In 1946 five societies – the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, the Red Rose Guild of Craftsmen, the Senefelder Club, the Society of Scribes and Illuminators and the Society of Wood Engravers – met at the Central School of Arts and Crafts to discuss forming a Craft Centre of Great Britain. The initial plan was to open an exhibition space at 98 Portland Place, but after “struggling for three years on private funds” a government grant made it possible to open a space at 16 Hay Hill, Berkeley Square in 1950. The centre was opened by the Queen on 16 August 1950, where she was presented with a silver spoon for her granddaughter, designed and made by Francis Cooper. The centre was opened to the public on 27 April 1950. Became Contemporary Applied Arts in 1987.

Funding and finances
A significant benefit for craftspeople who were members of the Craft Centre of Great Britain was that they were exempted from purchase tax, which in 1948 was 66.66%.

In History of the Crafts Council (1994), Tanya Harrod observed that “the Crafts Centre had a chequered career, attributed in part to an ‘unwieldly quarrelsome council representing five interest groups’.” The Craft Centre’s finances were always precarious. It was initially funded by a three-year government grant, to cover rent and the hosting of exhibitions around the country. In 1953 the Craft Centre became a trading body as well as a showroom. In 1962 the government removed the Craft Centre’s annual £5,000 grant. In 1966 the Craft Centre received a £5,000 grant from the Board of Trade.

Venues
In 1950 an exhibition space was opened at Hay Hill, including an exhibition living room featuring a rotation of members’ designs, together with a space for individual crafts. The centre also offered education and instruction. In 1967, the exhibition space moved to 43 Earlham Street, London. In 1970 Viscount Weymouth, heir to the Marquess of Bath, converted a “pin-table saloon” at Longleat House, Wiltshire, into a shop for the Craft Centre of Great Britain. Longleat Gallery was designed by Alan Irvine and was the Craft Centre's only permanent location outside London. Its posters were designed by Derek Birdsall. In the 1970s the Craft Centre also supported an arts fair held at Farnley Hall, West Yorkshire.

Key people

 * Chairman: John Farleigh was awarded a CBE for his work in establishing the Craft Centre
 * Secretary-General: Evelyn Fahy
 * President: Prince Philip
 * Vice-president: Bernard Leach
 * Chairman: Graham Hughes
 * Director: Cyril Wood

Crafts
The crafts supported by the Craft Centre included: bookbinding, calligraphy, domestic glass, embroidery, furniture, gold, jewellery, lace, lithography, pottery, silver, sun glass, textiles (printed and woven), typography and wood engraving. The Craft Centre “insisted on original design”. It didn't include steel engraving, saddlery or gun making, which instead formed part of the Rural Industries Bureau.

Exhibitions
The Craft Centre ran a continuous exhibition that shifted focus between different crafts throughout the year. A selection of exhibitions included:

Members
Craft Centre of Great Britain members included: Also: David Dewey (sculptor), William Joyce (furniture maker)
 * Calligraphers and illuminators: R J Croft, Claire Evans, Mervyn C Oliver
 * Embroiderers: Hebe Cox, Barbara Dawson, Joy Dobbs (Clucas), Lilian Dring, Margaret T Holden-Jones
 * Engraved glass: Harold Gordon, Helen Monro Turner
 * Glassware: Dillon Clarke, Stephen Rickard
 * Jewellers: Richard Brown, William Henry Brown, Owen Faulkner, Wendy Watkins, Guy Watson
 * Potters: Graham Burr, Honorine Catto, Brian Dewbury, David Eeles, Robert Charles Privett Fournier, William Fishley Holland, Janet Hamer, Henry Hammond, James Hart, Joyce Haynes, Samuel J Herman, Janet Leach, William Marshall, Basil Matthews, William Newland, Colin Pearson, Helen Edith Pincombe, Lucie Rie, James Walford, Mary White
 * Silversmiths: Lois Betteridge, John Grenville, Paul Harrison
 * Weavers & textiles: Eileen Bradford, Mrs W Harcourt Brigden, Helen Brooks, Mrs Eugene Carter, Elsie G Davenport, Ronald Grierson, Gerd Hay-Edie, Annie Maile, Mair Morris, Tibor Reich, Robert Stewart

Merge with the Crafts Council of Great Britain
In 1970, the Craft Centre was struggling financially, its government funding having been removed. In 1972 the Craft Centre merged with the Crafts Council of Great Britain to become the British Craft Centre. Supported by a grant of £40,000 from the government's Crafts Advisory Committee (CAC), which had been established the previous year, the new organisation's offices were at Waterloo Place, London. The Craft Centre's Earlham Street gallery location was retained for “one-man shows and other special displays”. In 1986 the organisation's name was changed to Contemporary Applied Arts, which remains active today.