July 9, 2025
Art
Craft
Design
Kate Mothes

Morag Myerscough in collaboration with Crown Paints. All images courtesy of the artists and the National Festival of Making

This year marked the seventh edition of the festival’s theme, “Art in Manufacturing,” with large-scale installations and dozens of events.

Every year, in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire, a vibrant festival erupts with creativity in a celebration of art, craft, and industry. This year marked the seventh edition of the National Festival of Making, organized along the theme of “Art in Manufacturing.” Acclaimed artists and designers teamed up with industry leaders to create works using a variety of materials, from Morag Myerscough’s collaboration with Crown Paints for a vibrant new mural to Liaqat Rasul’s partnership with textile producer Herbert Parkinson for an optical installation.

Locality played a central role in the festival, as artists were paired with manufacturers in Lancashire. Matter at hand, the design practice of Lewis Jones, teamed up with Darwen Terracotta and Faience, which focuses on traditional glazed earthenware for home products and restoration (faience is a type of tin-glazed pottery).

Matter at hand in collaboration with Darwen Terracotta, “Poured Earth” (detail)

Matter at hand created a large-scale installation titled “Poured Earth,” which takes an architectural approach to materials in the northern transept of Blackburn Cathedral. The piece invites visitors to walk through an archway of wooden crates and around cast elements in various shapes and sizes, emphasizing the timelessness and continuity of earthen building materials and styles. […]

Detail of a mural by Morag Myerscough in collaboration with Crown Paints

Source: Blackburn’s National Festival of Making Celebrates Collaborations Between Art and Industry