Shropshire Guild of contemporary craft

With Shropshire Guild members and guests from the Worcestershire Guild of Designer Craftsmen, this selling exhibition is a real showcase for talented designer makers from the region who will be showing their unique handcrafted items. 'Showing Off' will feature a wide variety of creativity and will include exhibitors who have created wonderful pieces of furniture, jewellery, fabrics and ceramics, and quite unusually a bellow maker and restorer.

Shropshire Guild Chair and ceramicist Caroline Bennett said "Showing Off is simply that! We will be showing off our wonderful creativity over the weekend and we will have over 30 designer makers who are incredibly talented; some will also be demonstrating their skills, which is always interesting to watch". 

Shropshire Guild Members exhibiting include potter Elspeth Soper from Willey Furnace Pottery near Broseley, who's practical pieces feature chickens, hares and guinea fowl in earthly glaze colours such as soft blues, greys, muted terracotta's, ochre's and greens.

Other Shropshire Guild members are jeweller Sara Piper-Heap from Gobowen, Sue Christian, a hand weaver from Oswestry and sculptor Simon Connolly from Ditton Priors near Ludlow.

Sara is fascinated by the beauty of the natural world meeting the mathematical one and her striking jewellery features regular geometric shapes and simple clean lines. Hand weaver Sue's inspiration comes from colour and pattern, and many of her pieces have intricate designs within the weave, which lend themselves perfectly to the fine threads that she enjoys using.

Sculptor Simon Connolly works from his studio overlooking Wenlock Edge and sculpts in fired stoneware clay. Recently selected for the Royal Academy of Art's summer exhibition, Simon's work is inspired by the British countryside and rural living and he seeks to capture the vibrancy and flow of nature.

Worcestershire Guild member at 'Showing Off' is Peggy Brown from Elmley Lovett near Droitwich Spa. Peggy makes and restores bellows and is one of the very few specialists working in this field. Using English elm, which is selected for its fine figure along with full grain English hide and cast brass nozzles, Peggy also undertakes restoration work.

Caroline continued "events such as 'Showing Off' are really important to our makers and the public. We have so much creative talent in Shropshire and the region, and it is great to be able to show the public the existence of handmade goods that have been designed and created by individuals rather than mass produced".

'Showing Off' is open from 10am – 5pm on Saturday and 10am – 4pm on Sunday, admission is free.