the makers shaping the UK

Formerly known as The New Craftsmen – a game-changing platform that led a luxury craft resurgence in the UK, when it launched over a decade ago – this Pimlico Road shop opened in November with a new name and renowned gallerist Sarah Myerscough as creative director. It retains the brand’s original aim: to support British craft heritage through contemporary design. The roster includes the likes of Scottish furniture maker Kevin Gauld, known for his Orkney chair, and textile designer-weaver Maria Sigma.  

The Merchant’s Table premises has previously been home to violin makers, framers and gunsmiths so it’s fitting that when Susanna Cook bought the retail space in 2017, she decided to specialise in furniture and homeware by British craftspeople (the name comes from her career working on branding for food clients). Pieces typically reflect the individual makers surroundings and harness traditional techniques. For instance, founder-sculptor Alice Andrea Ewing uses the lost wax process to cast bronze mushrooms, giant rosehips, and leaf lights.  

Co-founded by artist Mary Claire Smith nearly two-decades ago, Frank is a Whitstable institution. Provenance, usefulness and beauty are all bywords for what’s on display in the gallery-like space – from Smith’s own limited-edition screen prints (often nature-inspired and on Japanese paper) that hang by the till to colour-block mittens by Margate-based knitwear designer Kate Jones and bird-themed vintage matchbox collages by artist Andrew Malone. There is also a good selection of coffee table books (Nordic baking, zero-waste gardening) and zines.  

The name says it all: beautifully simple versions of everyday household items and handy tools. The craftspeople behind the goods are based all over the world, from Japan to Korea and closer-to-home in the UK. The kind of shop where it’s hard to leave without purchasing something you never knew you needed: a cheese knife (with a beech handle, by century-old French company Opinel), say, or Swedish table dustpan and brush by Iris Hantwerk designed to sweep up crumbs.  

Any shoppers who visited Penzance in the last decade might remember fashion designer Carole Elsworth’s No.56, a lifestyle store that combined Scandinavian-style homeware with her own Handworked clothing label. In 2023, it moved further up Chapel Street: now there are two floors (her atelier is above) filled with everything from illustrated drawstring bags by Laura Stoddart to Frances Savage pots. Plus of course, a smattering of garments – perhaps a hemp and cotton coat with hand block-printed lining or a lace-edged linen slip.  

Founded by husband-and-wife Max and Chloe Eastwood (he’s a furniture maker, she’s a jeweller), this artisanal shop fits in perfectly with Totnes’ all-too-rare independent high street. Wooden shelves and tables are full of tempting homeware and gifts, from beeswax candles and celadon-glazed breakfast bowls by potter Cliff Ellis to Jenny Gracie’s willow baskets. Plus, there’s fashion: battered brass and recycled silver stacked hoop earrings, gold sea urchin rings, scoop-neck linen tunic tops and barrel leg trousers. 

Set in an old Leith customs house, Bard is a showcase for craft that tells interesting stories about Scotland. It’s owned by design critic and curator Hugo MacDonald and his architect-designer partner James Stevens, who, before opening the space in 2022, did a country-wide road trip to meet makers in their studios. Much of what’s for sale is specially commissioned, whether made from traditional materials such as ceramics and glass or the more unexpected, like 3D printed textiles and re-purposed ocean plastics.  

Recently taken over by photographer couple Leanne McColm and Chris Taylor (the latter’s mackerel, lighthouse, and Wells beach hut lino prints are among the collection of limited-edition artworks), this five-year-old store in a Georgian former courthouse sells homeware by over 50 Norfolk-based makers. Look out for teal handblown tumblers by Norwich’s SALT glass studios, driftwood lamp bases, scorched black ash side tables and fern-motif screen-printed, natural dye linen cushions by Madder Clutch & Co.  

Founded in 2017, this lifestyle store in Manchester's independent shop-filled Northern Quarter, is all about shining the spotlight on individual makers who, between them, focus on traditional craftsmanship, timeless designs and slow-batch production. Homeware and gifts, paper goods and a growing collection of vintage pieces are all a major focus. Highlights include forget-me-not stoneware pots by Paige Mitchell, cheery linen tea towels with illustrations of bundt cake or oysters, and thick, rust-striped lambswool cushions by Harriet Grisk.   

Visitors to the Knepp estate in Sussex, a trailblazing 3,500-acre rewilding project by Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree, walk through this two-year-old retail space to reach the Wilding Kitchen café and restaurant (and the start of several walking trails). It’s part farm shop, part eco-minded gifts and consciously crafted homeware, from leather hide chairs by Bill Amberg to Fine Cell Work cushions and rotating selling exhibitions such as the current wooden forms by local maker Niall Clutton (until 1 March).