FORMIDABLE PARTNERS: THE FOUNDING OF THE NEW CRAFTSMAN IN ST IVES

This beautifully produced concise volume tells the story of the influential shop in St Ives set up by Janet Leach. The New Craftsman’s roots were in The Craftsmen’s Shop opened by David Leach and Robin Nance in 1952, an innovative venture which showed pottery and furniture in a wider craft context.

Janet Leach took over from Robin Nance in 1959. She had plans to expand and opened the New Craftsman further along Fore Street in partnership with local businesswoman Boots Redgrave in 1965, the two shops running in parallel until 1976.

The emphasis for the new shop was on modern design for the home, and imported goods such as Italian furniture and Scandinavian glassware were stocked. The aim was to create an interior that was not intimidating, where you might find well-designed and reasonably priced cookware alongside art and craft objects. Janet was resolute in her view that this was a shop and not a gallery.

The book is written as an extended essay divided into short chapters. They discuss the broader local context, as well as other pioneering British craft shops. The last chapter covers the New Craftsman’s more recent history when it was run by Ylenia and Paul Haase, with an emphasis on exhibitions, and its legacy. It is illustrated with contemporary photographs and has useful appendices with tables showing the artists stocked and the exhibitions held.

Both the book and a linked Craft Study Centre exhibition illuminate the previously largely untold story of craft shops in the second half of the 20th century. The book is dedicated to Professor Simon Olding, who began the project but sadly died before its completion. It has been ably completed by Greta Bertram.

FORMIDABLE PARTNERS: THE FOUNDING OF THE NEW CRAFTSMAN IN ST IVES

Simon Olding & Greta Bertram, Crafts Study Centre, 2023, pb £30

Condensed from a review by Helen Brown in DAS Newsletter No. 131