Friday 7th - Sunday 23rd November, 10:00-4:00pm.
As the Suffolk Craft Society returns to the historic Guildhall for its Winter Exhibition, visitors are invited to enjoy exceptional contemporary craft in one of Bury St Edmunds’ most atmospheric settings.
The Grade I listed Guildhall is the oldest complete civic building in Britain, with origins in the early 1100s. Over the centuries it has served as a hub of trade, justice and civil defence—from medieval merchants to Second World War aircraft spotters. Its Tudor kitchen and unique Royal Observer Corps operations room bear witness to layers of history that now provide a powerful backdrop for this seasonal celebration of creativity.
This much-loved event transforms the Guildhall into a showcase of imagination and craftsmanship, bringing together artists and makers from across East Anglia whose work spans ceramics, glass, textiles, wood, jewellery, print and more.
Below we give you a glimpse of the craftspeople that will be joining us at The Guildhall this year. We do hope to see you there too.
Friday 7th - Sunday 23rd November, 10:00-4:00pm.
Sculptor and letter carver Mary Anstee-Parry, a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors, creates work that unites the humour and balance of medieval carving with the vibrant symbolism of West African tribal art. Her pieces explore order, pattern and rhythm, often incorporating text to enrich their sense of narrative. Nicci Dedman, working from the Norfolk–Suffolk border, fashions intricate wire sculptures from repurposed steel, drawing inspiration from local flora and fauna. Influenced by her background in jewellery, she creates expressive three-dimensional works that balance delicacy and strength without the use of soldering or welding. Joy Holden specialises in the reverse mosaic method, producing finely surfaced designs from glass and ceramic tesserae. With more than two decades of experience, she now works from her studio in Diss, creating mosaics that combine precision craftsmanship with luminous colour and texture. Heidi McEvoy-Swift describes her practice as “sewn sculpture,” creating unique vessels and wall pieces from salvaged theatrical fabrics and found natural materials. Hand-stitched with care and intuition, her sustainable works explore ideas of value, impermanence, and humanity’s fragile relationship with the natural world.
Bookbinder Paul Garcia makes traditionally sewn books finished with silk endbands and decorated edges. Working mainly in leather, he embellishes his bindings with gold and blind tooling, gilding and colour, balancing classical restraint with individuality and fine craftsmanship. Printmaker and bookbinder Mavina Baker works from her Essex coast studio, creating hand-printed works that evolve through the act of making. Her reflective practice explores the quiet, human moments of life, with recurring motifs of birds and boats symbolising transience, memory, and solitary journeys.
Furniture maker Tim Germain creates one-of-a-kind commissioned pieces, personally overseeing every stage of the process — from design and timber selection to shaping, jointing, and finishing. His work is defined by simple, strong forms that highlight the natural beauty and character of English hardwoods. Toby Winteringham creates sculptural pieces that marry strong form with refined structure. Working primarily in solid and veneered wood, he produces elegant designs of lasting character, often enhanced with distinctive trompe-l’œil marquetry. He also make smaller pieces, such as mirrors, magazine holders, trays and jewellery. Nicholas Rowe continues to develop his distinctive woodturning practice, creating sculptural forms that celebrate the natural beauty, imperfections, and individuality of locally sourced woods
Sylvie and James Fawcett, based in Thornham Magna, handcraft make all the members of the violin family of instruments in both their modern form, and in period forms from the 17th and 18th centuries for use in historically informed performance. Using traditional tools and varnishes of their own making, they create instruments valued for their tonal warmth by musicians around the world.
Basketmaker Lin Carter combines traditional and contemporary techniques to create rush hats, vessels, and decorative forms using willow she grows herself and rush gathered from Suffolk rivers. Guided by a love of making and a respect for heritage, her work honours tradition while celebrating the joy and urgency of creative craftsmanship
Among the ceramicists, Susie Bruce explores the expressive possibilities of porcelain, creating hand-built vessels from textured slabs that bend and curve at the edge of collapse. Her elegant bowls, dishes and teapots, often finished with gold lustre, feature intricate patterns impressed from lace, netting and other found materials. John Chipperfield, a founding and honorary member of the Society, creates dynamic vessels with asymmetrical forms and dramatic glazed surfaces, combining sculptural energy with painterly design. Working in the Stour Valley, Marie Coomber produces wheel-thrown stoneware that contrasts tactile clay surfaces with smooth glazes. Her tableware, inspired by Suffolk, South-West France and her native Germany, transforms daily rituals into cherished moments. Cathy D’Arcy, originally trained as a textile designer, brings the vibrant colours of her East African childhood into her pottery, hand-building expressive forms rich with pattern and rhythm.
Ceramic artist Anne-Marie Jacobs creates slip-cast white earthenware inspired by the Essex salt marshes surrounding her home on Mersea Island. Her work captures the marshland’s beauty, strength, and fragility through decorative forms, intricate surface reliefs, and carefully developed glazes that reflect the colours and textures of this threatened yet resilient landscape. Claire Pirie, a Suffolk potter originally from Ayrshire, produces calm, functional porcelain pieces that highlight the tactile beauty of unglazed clay and the purity of refined form. In his rural Essex studio, Neville Tatham produces hand-thrown slipware inspired by traditional English pottery, using local clay and slip-trailing to create functional earthenware of warmth and authenticity. Working in Felixstowe, Patt Todd casts porcelain bowls and wall pieces that are essentially paintings in clay, their surfaces layered with oxides and glazes to evoke the light and movement of the Suffolk coast. Janene Waudby, whose life and art are rooted in the sea, makes ceramic pieces shaped by the elements. Her burnished, smoke-fired vessels embody a sense of collaboration with nature’s forces. Mary Wyatt hand-builds sculptures exploring shape, balance and movement, depicting human figures, seascapes and animals with grace and poise, and is currently experimenting with raku firing.
Printmaker and graphic artist Terry Bryan works from rural Essex, creating etchings, monotypes and collagraphs that draw on landscapes, architecture and military history. His meticulous compositions combine design precision with expressive visual storytelling. Marta Dyer-Smith experiments with collagraphy, drypoint and relief printing to create abstracted landscapes from his outdoor sketches, sharing his innovative techniques widely through his online printmaking community. Sally Freer captures the gentle moods of Suffolk and Essex in her monoprints, layering colour and pattern to depict hedgerows, fields and boats stranded on tidal shores. Greta Hansen, trained at Ipswich Art School and Central Saint Martins, creates collagraphs and reduction linocuts that celebrate the Suffolk landscape in rich, layered colour, each developed from her own observational sketches. Jane Hunter, based on Mersea Island, she finds inspiration in the coastal landscapes of Essex and Suffolk, translating her sketches and photographs into expressive lino prints carved in her garden studio. Her work reflects a deep connection to life by the sea and a definite fondness for boats. Helen Maxfield also draws inspiration from Suffolk’s countryside and coast, producing limited-edition linocuts that combine compositional strength with the natural textures of the medium. Wood engraver and linocut artist Jenny Portlock creates finely detailed prints using boxwood for its exceptional hardness and close grain, allowing for intricate linework and precision. Drawing inspiration from her imagination and influenced by Japanese Ukiyo-e ideals, her work combines rhythmical forms, hidden meanings, and a strong graphic quality shaped by her background in design.
Glass artist Cathy Constable draws inspiration from the layered horizons of the East Anglian marshes. Through multiple firings and the interplay of opaque and iridescent glass, she evokes the shifting textures of water and sky, creating pieces that balance abstraction and landscape. Clare Gaylard works in flame-formed Murano glass, sculpting unique vessels and adornments infused with colour, pattern and narrative, each element shaped entirely in the flame. Hassina Khan explores identity and heritage through kiln-formed glass that merges Urdu calligraphy with contemporary design. Her luminous, text-based compositions, informed by her English and Pakistani background, have been recognised nationally, including selection for the British Glass Biennale 2024.
In jewellery, Alison Dane crafts vibrant, lightweight pieces from hand-decorated papers, combining controlled design with spontaneous colour to create distinctive, wearable art. Susi Hines creates sophisticated jewellery from her own gold alloys, combining subtle colour shifts with intricate structures that move and articulate, expressing ideas of change and metamorphosis. Diane Levitt, inspired by the natural world of Constable Country, fashions one-of-a-kind pieces from recycled metals, enamels and found materials, blending elegance with environmental consciousness. Helen Smith, a Suffolk-based jeweller with over thirty years’ experience, specialises in Mokume Gane and cloisonné enamel. Her work merges heritage techniques with contemporary design, producing richly patterned surfaces accented with gold and gemstones.
Leatherworker Mark Papworth produces hand-stitched leather goods that embody traditional English craftsmanship and timeless design. Using historic techniques and durable materials, he makes elegant, practical pieces and restores vintage items with care, also teaching his craft to others from his Suffolk workshop. Sarah Woodcock creates fine leatherwork that combines beauty with purpose, each piece designed to age gracefully and endure. Drawing on her background as a National Trust curator and a family tradition of makers, she uses the highest-quality natural materials to craft work that will be loved and passed on through generations.
Among the textile artists, Liz Chester, a professional tapestry weaver since 2007, creates intricately woven works whose rhythm and colour reveal her deep engagement with this contemplative craft. Jean Constantine makes hand-felted textiles depicting birds and animals of the Suffolk countryside, finished with delicate embroidery to enhance their charm. Helen Dougall interprets landscape and seascape through batik, layering wax and dye to capture cloud formations, fields and shoreline textures with painterly depth. Jean Fryer creates luminous textile panels using layered silks and chiffons, sometimes digitally printed and finely embroidered, producing atmospheric works reminiscent of watercolour. Jenny Nutbeam dyes and paints velvet, silk and linen to produce one-off scarves and jackets inspired by Japanese design and the Suffolk coastline, underpinned by a sustainable, no-waste philosophy. Jo Rolfe takes her inspiration from East Anglian land and sea, creating screen-printed and stitched textile pieces from natural and upcycled fabrics, often incorporating imagery from traditional rural crafts such as sail-making and thatching. Chloe Scott, a woven designer based in Norwich, hand-dyes and weaves bespoke fabrics in wool and cotton, transforming patterns drawn from nature and architecture into refined homewares. Mary Jane Toulson uses strong colour and geometric design to create one-off wool rugs she describes as “paintings for the floor”, blending traditional weaving with modern artistic sensibility. Danielle Wade is inspired by the natural world. Her bold linear drawings and photographic techniques are translated onto hand-dyed cottons, linens and silks and embroidery to create vibrant, functional pieces such as cushions, aprons, and everyday bags.
It is a real pleasure for the Suffolk Craft Society to return once again to the beautiful Guildhall in Bury St Edmunds. This much-anticipated Winter Exhibition is one not to be missed, offering something for everyone — from finely crafted ceramics and jewellery to striking prints, textiles, glass and woodwork. Whether you are looking for a unique gift, a special piece for your home, or simply the inspiration that comes from seeing great craftsmanship up close, the Guildhall provides the perfect setting to celebrate and support the very best of contemporary craft in East Anglia.
Friday 7th - Suday 23rd November, 10am-5pm
Join Us
Excited by these opportunities and keen to join us? The Suffolk Craft Society thrives through the support of artists, makers, and heritage craft enthusiasts. Whether you are a skilled artisan looking to showcase your work or an admirer of fine craftsmanship, there are two fantastic ways to get involved, becoming a Member or joining as a Friend.
Membership: For Makers & Craft Professionals becoming a Suffolk Craft Society Member offers a wealth of opportunities:
Exhibit Your Work – Take part in our prestigious exhibitions held in iconic venues.
Promotion & Recognition – Gain exposure through our website, social media, and marketing.
Join a Respected Community – Be part of a network of skilled artisans who celebrate and support British craftsmanship.
Friends of Suffolk Craft Society: For Supporters & Enthusiasts, join as a Friend and enjoy exclusive benefits:
Discounts – Enjoy special offers on handcrafted pieces.
Newsletters – Stay informed with the latest society updates, artist features, and upcoming events.
Private View Invitations – Be among the first to see our exhibitions and meet the makers behind the work.
Your support—whether as a Member or a Friend—helps us continue our mission to celebrate, promote, and preserve fine craftsmanship in the Eastern region. Join us today and become part of a vibrant creative community.
Our exhibitions celebrate the extraordinary craftsmanship of Suffolk Craft Society makers, showcasing intricate details, time-honored skills, and innovative designs. With dynamic, ever-evolving displays set in iconic venues, each showcase promises a fresh, inspiring, and immersive experience.
If you're unable to attend an exhibition in person don’t forget you can support talented local artisans through our online shop >>>