Operating on the edges of commercial design practice are many crafts-based designer-makers. Bridging the gap between purely artistic endeavours and commercially briefed work, designer-makers design and manufacture limited edition, one-off or bespoke products for retail.
Lucy Fergus is a designer-maker who studied Woven Textiles at Glasgow School of Art at an undergraduate level and Design for Textile Futures at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design for her masters degree. She subsequently launched Re-Silicone, a vehicle for her creations in reused waste rubber silicone, which are made using craft techniques. In her work, Fergus combines one-off installation pieces, silicone sculptures, jewellery and craft-based learning workshops with children. ‘I couldn’t sit making one thing all day, so I absolutely love coming to the studio and doing all the different things I do and I actively seek briefs that I can adapt to fit to the kind of work I do,’ she says.
Fergus secured a Bellhouse Foundation Award to receive three years’ subsidised studio space at Cockpit Arts, a business incubator for crafts-based designer-makers. For more information about working as a designer-maker see the Crafts Council