Heritage, advocacy and expression: 'Future Icons Selects' for London Craft Week 2025

Established in 2015, the London Craft Week presents and celebrates the works of some of the most creative art and design professionals from the world over, making it one of the most anticipated creative events in London, United Kingdom. The Future Icons Selects, a show presented by the craft collective Future Icons, returns from May 15 – 18, 2025, for its third edition at the craft week, moving to Shoreditch after being held in the South Bank area for its previous two editions.

From ceramics and metalworks to textiles and artworks, a showcase of over 50 artisans will span an area of 9,000 sq ft across three stunning industrial arches, "with the outdoor terrace garden transformed into a lively social hub, offering curated food and beverage experiences that complement the creative atmosphere," according to the organisers, for a focused celebration of craftsmanship, art and design.

Delighted over hosting the show in the trend-setting region of Shoreditch, Louisa Pacifico, founder of Future Icons, states, "With limited space, we will deliver a concise showcase of 50+ diverse makers in an exciting new format: think luxury retail! Located at 83, Rivington Street, the large-scale curated showcase underlines the importance of accessibility, ensuring affordable opportunities for the participants to present their craftsmanship on the renowned platform. All of our artisans will be present to meet you and discuss their collections, some of whom will be demonstrating their craft for visitors to get a behind-the-scenes look at their methods," reveals Pacifico in the exhibition's press release.

This year, Future Icons selects several creatives who are showcasing their works in London for the first time, providing an opportunity for interior designers and collectors at the event to discover fresh talents. The lineup includes noteworthy artists such as The Marchmont Workshop, Sanni Falkenberg, Epona Smith and Willow Bloomfield, who bring endangered crafts into the spotlight, along with Catalin Filip, Kira Phoenix K’inan and Selfish Customs who fuse functional design with artistic expression, apart from Emily Gibbard and Gaby Mlynarczyk, who investigate the interplay of the human body, nature and environment.

Gibbard, a Bristol-based artist and the founder and director of the artist-led ceramics studio Windmill Clay, brings a series of biomorphic totems, as tall as 180 cm for Future Icons Selects. Drawing on personal experiences, knowledge of prehistoric sculptures and advocacy for female empowerment, Gibbard explores the themes of identity, body perception and sexuality through her ceramic works. The British artist experiments with thrown forms of clay, rooted in the art of traditional pottery, to shape abstract representations of the themes.

Mlynarczyk is a ceramic artist and teacher with a background in the culinary arts, who examines the convergence of humanity and nature through unconventional materials that spotlight environmental crises. Combining broken ceramics and scraps of porcelain and parian clays with Egyptian paste, lava rocks and marine-based bioplastics, she speculates on the potential proliferation of fragile marine and plant ecosystems over islands of man-made detritus and translates it into works of design. Her sculptures are hauntingly beautiful, reflecting the extent of environmental degradation, urging people to engage in discourse on the subject and act towards its betterment.

The Selfish Customs design studio, founded by Jess Walters and Joe Kirton, excels at crafting tactile, playful and vibrant furniture designs. The studio utilises its expertise in casting to merge traditional materials with relatively modern ones, presenting its latest collection of seating at London Craft Week 2025, made expertly from eco-resin and woven river rush. With a focus on materiality-informed functional and sculptural design pieces, the studio collaborates with interior designers and clients for bespoke contemporary design solutions.

The PLAY series by glass artist Phoenix K’inan expresses the potential of coloured glass to instigate emotions in viewers, similar to how music evokes feelings in the listeners. Lighting designer Filip presents sculptural lights, objects and installations made from ceramics, taking inspiration from the effect of gravity on raw clay, freezing them in time by capturing the fluidity of the forms. The Marchmont Workshop, which specialises in rush-seated chair making, unveils its first lounge chair design at Future Icons Selects, crafted from sustainably harvested local materials with traditional techniques.

Being one of the only two artisans in the UK who create large-scale lapidary works, Falkenberg presents three sculptures at the event that showcase her engraving, cutting and polishing techniques. Bloomfield, a coppersmith, almost exclusively uses recycled copper from local scrapyards to organically forge her metalworks, utilising traditional, endangered techniques such as hammer forming and repoussé. A former master engraver at Tiffany and Co., Smith is renowned for her expertise in the heritage craft of hand-push engraving, showcasing a series of handcrafted silver objects at the show, including intricate Florentine engraving.

"Set to be the largest gathering of craft makers at London Craft Week 2025, Future Icons Selects stays true to its mission of supporting and celebrating a diverse range of artisans. The event provides a unique platform for both local and international craft makers to showcase their work and, with an emphasis on accessibility, it offers an affordable opportunity for artisans to participate in one of the leading craft and design showcases, all within a thoughtfully curated, large-scale exhibition," shares London Craft Week.

Presented by Future Icons as part of London Craft Week 2025, 'Future Icons Selects' will be on view from May 15 – 18, 2025, at 83 Rivington Street, London, UK.