COCKPIT - SUSTAINABLE DESIGN IN MAKING
David Crump (Head of Business, Cockpit), Lulu Harrison (Glassmaker), Meron Wolde (Jeweller), Rebecca George (Milliner)
Thursday 30 June, 16:00 - 17:00
Setting up your business as a designer/maker is challenging in itself, but what about considering sustainability in your practice? Makers from Cockpit discuss sustainable practices in the craft sector.
PANELLISTS
David Crump, Head of Business, Cockpit
David leads Cockpit’s team of business coaches and trainers. With his team, he designs and delivers Cockpit’s in-house programme of business support and one-to-one coaching. He also leads Cockpit’s consultancy service, working with partners in the UK and overseas to deliver business and development programmes in craft and social enterprise.
Alongside his role at Cockpit, David retains his interest in sustainable jewellery production, He is a founder member of the UK group Fair Luxury and an advisory board member of Ethical Metalsmiths in the USA. David is an Alumni Fellow of Nottingham Business School, part of Nottingham Trent University.
Lulu Harrison, Glassmaker
Lulu Harrison is a self-taught glass artist, specialising in glass alchemy, and a recipient of the inaugural Glass Bursary in March 2022
She is in her final year of her MA at Central Saint Martins, studying Material Future. Inspired by ancient glass making processes and techniques, she has been creating unique batch recipes from local and waste materials.
With extraction of raw materials becoming a pressing environmental issue, as well as constantly rising transportation costs and emissions, Lulu is interested in finding alternatives to the highly processed and finite materials that are often used in glassmaking. Throughout this process, she has been working alongside glass masters in the UK and Murano, as well as the PEGG (Post Disciplinary & Experimental Glass Group), scholars in glass archaeology and Thames Water.
By combining crafts, design and science, Lulu’s work seeks to redefine the meaning of ‘luxury’, through working with waste materials and local communities.
Meron Wolde, Jeweller
Meron Wolde is a swedish/eritrean jewellery designer and metal artist. Recipient of the Cockpit/Arts Society Award 2018.
Meron has gained invaluable silversmithing techniques from her uncle visiting his Goldsmith workshops in Asmara, Eritrea and as an apprentice of Pierre Marchand in London.
Meron works in recycled silver and gold following an environmentally friendly studio practice. She explores experimental texturing of metal creating sculptural statement pieces with an element of chance. Meron carefully crafts minimalistic designs forming pieces by hand, heat and traditional silversmithing techniques. Having originally learnt her craft through mending and redesigning jewellery from her experience working with ethnographic artefacts in galleries in London,
Meron has gained a unique insight and found a boundless source of inspiration.
Rebecca George, Milliner
Rebecca George is a recipient of the Make It Award, joining Cockpit in March 2022.
OFFCUTT is an accessories brand founded by Rebecca George, who also goes by her native name Oluwafunmilayo. Rebecca is a Nigerian and Guyanese craftswoman. Born in east London, she studied Bespoke Tailoring at London College of Fashion where her interest for traditional techniques and the art of craftsmanship grew.
After many years working as a freelance bespoke tailor Oluwafunmilayo began to further explore her love for craftsmanship through leatherwork, which catalysed the birth of her new brand OFFCUTT. OFFCUTT works with locally sourced end of the line leather remnants.