What Happened When We Put Artists of Fine British Craft in Front of Collectors

Last night, Eleanor Lakelin, Zoë Wilson, and Alice and Gavin Munro of Full Grown sat in front of 45 people at Hiscox on Bishopsgate and talked about their work. For 40 minutes, nobody in the audience moved. These are three of the most compelling artists of fine British craft working today, and the room knew it.

Hiscox Private Client had asked us to create the evening for their collectors alongside a group of interior designers and architects. They wanted something that would stay with people. We proposed a panel conversation on contemporary British craft, chaired by our founder Grant Pierrus.

The question at the centre of the evening: what does it mean to make something that cannot be made any other way?

The Artists

Eleanor Lakelin works only with trees that have already been felled. Diseased, storm-damaged, reaching the end of their natural life. She turns them into sculptural vessels that are now held in the V&A, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, and the National Museum in Oslo.

Zoë Wilson carves geometric patterns into British stone. Welsh slate. Portland limestone. Scottish sandstone. Each piece takes weeks. She trained through two apprenticeships and a First Class diploma at the City and Guilds of London Art School. Her tools are a mallet and a chisel. That is it.

Alice and Gavin Munro of Full Grown grow furniture from living trees on a two-and-a-half-acre site in Derbyshire. A chair takes seven to nine years. They produce around fifty pieces a year. The waiting list runs to 2029. Their first prototype is in the permanent collection of the National Museum of Scotland.

We chose these three because they share something important. For each of them, scarcity is not a positioning choice. It is the nature of the work. You cannot speed it up. You cannot scale it. The material dictates the timeline.

The Evening

The conversation moved through their materials, their processes, what drives them, and where British craft sits now. Grant led it. The audience listened.

Richard Wynn from Hiscox told us afterwards that he had never had an audience so engaged. “Nobody moved, they were so engrossed.”

Ed Birth, Hiscox’s Head of Brand Marketing, said he found it “very moving hearing Zoe, Gavin and Eleanor talking so eloquently about their work and the story behind it.”

Dr Esther Milardi, an interior designer in the audience, wrote about “a deep respect for their materials, an attentiveness to what each piece seemed to ask of them, and a willingness to shape rather than impose.”

When the panel ended, the audience did not leave. They gathered around the artists and the works on display. Someone asked if the Full Grown chair was still alive. Someone else wondered how the artists could bear to part with pieces after forming such a deep connection during the creative process. These conversations went on for over an hour.

Zoë Wilson wrote to us the following morning. “I can’t really get over what a fabulous opportunity that was to get my work in front of the right audience. And god weren’t they the right audience.”

She was right. Half the room were collectors. The other half were designers and architects who specify at the highest level. When an artist of fine British craft is in front of people who understand value, the conversation changes. It becomes about material and intention. Not price.

Why This Matters

We work with brands in the interior design and architecture sector. Many of them make exceptional things. Most of them face the same challenge: the people who would value their work most do not fully understand what goes into it. What separates it. Why it matters.

Last night reminded us that the answer is rarely more content or greater visibility. It is the right room. The right people. The right conversation.

If you would like to talk about what that could look like for your brand, get in touch.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is fine British craft?

Fine British craft refers to handmade work of exceptional quality produced in Britain by makers with deep material expertise. It includes sculptural woodwork, stone carving, grown furniture, ceramics, and other disciplines where the hand, the material, and the maker’s mastery are inseparable from the object itself.

Who are Eleanor Lakelin, Zoë Wilson, and Full Grown?

Eleanor Lakelin is a sculptor whose vessels are held in the V&A, the Museum of Arts and Design New York, and the National Museum Oslo. Zoë Wilson carves geometric patterns into British stone using traditional hand tools. Full Grown, founded by Alice and Gavin Munro, grows furniture from living trees on a Derbyshire farm - a chair takes seven to nine years. All three represent the leading edge of fine British craft.

How can luxury craft brands reach interior design collectors?

By placing their work and their makers in front of audiences who understand value - collectors, architects, and designers who specify at the highest level. Curated events that create genuine conversation around the work are often more effective than trade shows or digital marketing alone.

What is the value of curated events over trade shows for craft brands?

Trade shows distribute attention across hundreds of stands. Curated events concentrate it. When the right audience is in the room and the conditions allow for real conversation about process and material, the brand relationship that forms is fundamentally different - and significantly more durable.