A festival of craft with over 60 events to be held in 40 venues across Sussex showing the work of over 100 makers – 14 – 22 June

The first Sussex Craft Week (SCW) launches 14-22 June 2025 with a programme of events across the region. With many of the UK’s most influential makers located in East and West Sussex, it aims to celebrate the two counties as the hub of the contemporary craft revival. SCW is organised by ROSA, the arts & culture magazine for Sussex, in partnership with West Dean College.

Sussex Craft Week 2025: Festival Programme
The inaugural edition of Sussex Craft Week presents a festival of exhibitions, craft courses, demonstrations of making, and open studios throughout East and West Sussex. As part of the programme, ROSA is pleased to announce news of the inaugural Sussex Craft Awards. The awards include an exhibition of work by the twelve shortlisted craftspeople – representing the very best makers in Sussex – at Newlands House Gallery in Petworth.

Find Out More
A full programme guide for Sussex Craft Week 2025 is available to download at sussexcraftweek.com and a printed guide is included in a bumper summer issue of ROSA Magazine , published on 23 May. Events are also listed as an interactive online map and calendar on the SCW website.

A selection of programme highlights by region include:

Hastings, St Leonards and Rye

Hastings, St Leonards and Rye are famously recognised artist hubs, and Sussex Craft Week will network visitors with some of the area’s best makers and exhibitions.

Visit James and Celeste Hartley ’s beautiful studio in Hastings Old Town to see a curated exhibition of sculptures and textiles by local makers. Neighbouring this is the acclaimed gallery Hastings Contemporary, which is celebrating the rich heritage of Sussex’s traditional crafts with demonstrations for Sussex Craft Week  on 14 June: net making and knot tying with local Hastings’ fishermen, ancient natural dyeing and block printing methods with artist Sarah Burns, and an insight into the unique craftsmanship behind the famous Sussex Trug, with Basketmaker Dominic Parette. Or, learn the art of Japanese Bookbinding with Hannah O’Hara on 19 June.

Walk back along the seafront towards St Leonards to visit the printroom of the award-winning wallpaper designer, Deborah Bowness (14, 19, 20+21 June, 10-4.30pm). The De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill presents the first institutional exhibition of textile works by Claudia Alarcón & Silät and in Rye, sculptor David Cruikschank will be opening his garden studio to show his new collection of biomorphic wooden sculptures (21 June, 10-4pm).

Eastbourne

Towner Eastbourne presents Sussex Modernism , a fresh take on the influences and influencers of Modernism, with works from the late 19th century through to the present day. Crafts in the exhibition include a tapestry by Edward Burne-Jones (1886), contemporary embroidery by Turner Prize-nominated Delaine Le Bas, and a life-sized goddess by Alexi Marshall (2024), among others.

Popular local studio Eastbourne Studio Pottery Workshops are offering a number of opportunities to learn ceramics around the theme of ‘The Garden’. These include Raku pottery and screen printing on clay, and hand-building workshops and throwing taster sessions. For children, the studio will host an after-school Mudlarks Children’s Clay Workshop at the Community Pottery at Marchant’s Fields allotments (17 June). Plus, a group show of ceramics by the studio’s tutors, technicians and invited artists in the venue’s beautiful garden, (14-15 June).

Emma Mason Gallery will display Richard Mason’s joyful mobile sculptures, which are made from found materials and hand-carved wood and metals. Mason will also be offering demonstrations of how he makes the sculptures. Further east in Stone Cross (near Pevensey) Jonnathan Chiswell Jones and Kerry Bosworth will be opening their pottery studio and showroom to visitors, with demonstrations on how to throw, turn and decorate reduction-fired lustreware, (16-20 June). In Hailsham, Shoemakers Fay and Thomas Murphy of Sussex footwear brand Chapter 2 will open their workshop to share a world of beautifully hand-crafted shoes, including an introduction to shoe-making and a chance to design your dream pair of leather boots (21 June).

Lewes District

Choose from two  Studio Safaris led by The Maker’s Directory which are taking place across Ditchling and Lewes on 14 June and will take you directly to the makers in these thriving craft communities. While in Lewes, visit the Depot cinema, which is offering an alternative take on cinema with KnitFlix  an e

Brighton & Hove

Hove Museum is renowned for its contemporary craft collection, which features the work of nationally and internationally important makers working in an incredible range of media. As part of Sussex Craft Week, visitors can attend an expert-led tour of the collection with Laurie Bassam, Curator of Art, Craft and Design at Brighton & Hove Museums. From bold ceramics to intricate tapestries, explore works by celebrated makers from Sussex and beyond. (19 June, 11am).

Brighton’s Secret Garden in Kemptown is hosting a selection of sculptures by the innovative German-born, London-based artist, Almuth Tebbenhoff , and on Brighton’s seafront promenade are the specialist print and craft gallery Atelier-beside-the-sea. Their exhibition, ANIMAL, shows prints, ceramics and textiles of animals by wide-ranging artists and makers, including Sarah Young.

Chichester and Arundel

Renowned college West Dean, described as ‘One of the top 10 creative breaks worldwide’ by The Times in 2023, offers hundreds of courses in arts and crafts, set in a grand house in stunning landscaped grounds just outside of Chichester. They have a number of short courses on offer held over the Sussex Craft Week festival. Choose from the likes of medieval ironwork, woodturning, natural dyeing, woodcut prints, sculpture, and more.

Petworth

A showcase of Sussex’s best designer-makers will be displayed at Newlands House Gallery for the inaugural Sussex Craft Awards (14-22 June). The exhibition features 12 finalists, chosen by a panel representing West Dean College, Newlands House Gallery, Tutton & Young and The Makers Directory, from a publicly nominated list.

 

Midsumor Village in Ticehurst

Sussex Craft Week is pleased to be partnering with The Bell in Ticehurst , a 500-year-old Tudor coaching inn. Installed throughout its historic buildings is an extraordinary art and craft collection by star names, such as Francis Bacon, Tracey Emin, Gilbert & George, Banksy and Graham Sutherland, alongside local artists and makers. A special programme as part of the festival, titled Midsumor Village  comprises a week of courses, the launch of new fantasy lodges in the gardens, and a Midsumer Village Fair (21 June), co-curated with Tutton & Young (MADE London and Brighton founders) and featuring, among others, work by printmakers Sarah Young and Flora McLachlan, Designer Sarah Arnett, textile artist Carola van Dyke and embroiderer Emily Barnett.

 

More information at Sussex Craft Week