Victoria and Albert Museum

The world’s greatest museum of art and design

Opening times

10.00 to 17.45 daily
10.00 to 22.00 Fridays

Mary Butcher - Craft Council Designer in Residence 2009

Mary Butcher - Craft Council Designer in Residence 2009

Mary Butcher on her work whilst Craft Council Designer in Residence at the V&A.Archive - this blog closed in 2011

Hidden Collections

I was in the 'hidden' Museum the other day collecting basketry materials I have had stored there, and was instantly back in the special atmosphere of stillness, silence, warmth, and a plethora of miscellaneous objects. The stuff has stayed as there was a complex arrangement necessary to transport natural materials into the building in case they carried disease. So once in, the willow and...
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New willow season, new blog season

I am resuming my basket blog with as much vigor as the new willow, late to leaf here in Kent this year because of all those nights well below freezing. But here it comes, filling my car as I have to drive stuff home. My first batch was cut by friends at a delightful small holding of long standing, a small market garden, where basketmakers planted a willow patch about 10 years ago. The...
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Origin

This is the Crafts Council craft event, two weeks of delicious things exhibited in a pavilion in the courtyard of Somerset House so surrounded by fine building of a serious nature. Inside are stalls, shops, booths - describe them as you wish, but each has an individual craftsperson displaying their finest products and willing to talk and show and, of course, sell to you or negotiate a commission...
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London Design Festival

This, a couple of weeks ago, happened in the Sackler Centre of the V & A as well as all over London. What a happening! Outside the Studios was a constant crowd of exhibition watchers, those going to talks and seminars, having coffees and generally transforming the building with action in the classroom downstairs, the Digital Studio and outside our door. At one stage they thought to exclude us...
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Open Studios

<!--[if gte mso 10]> We are having a great many of these! And a friend and basketmaker from Finland, Anna-Maria Vaartainen, asked me about them so here we go! They are times when I am available in my Studio to talk to anyone who comes in, show them the small experiments I have been making, to let them handle examples of my work, materials, and anything else that I can help...
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The Upsett

This is a show of contemporary basketry in the Barbican library foyer, showing the world that the craft is no longer what people instantly imagine. No shoppers here, though I love to see them in other exhibitions and still love to teach those traditional skills which it is so important to maintain. More of that, and the Heritage Crafts Association another time. But here are diverse...
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The Baroque

I went off to this exhibition not expecting to be so interested, but not knowing a great deal either. But it was rich and ornate and elaborate in the ways I had anticipated but also much more absorbing. A huge show – too big for one visit but I picked and mixed, and enjoyed the caned chairs early on, with their tall backs and close mesh caning. I have recently repaired some seats and backs of...
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Basketry begins

It is already hard now to recall those first feelings in the Studio. My workshop at home sounds a more artisanal thing than artist’s space although I no longer make functional items regularly. Here was a mix of amazement, anticipation, questioning, wariness, delight. What did I have here? Little, it seemed, apart from remnants of the previous occupant, a Product Designer, who left long red...
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