About

Art in Manufacturing is the headline commissioning programme of the National Festival of Making, pairing artists with some of the UK’s leading manufacturers. Conceived as a unique platform for artists to develop their practice and an opportunity to create a meaningful dialogue between artists and the industrial workforce, the commissioning programme explores the social and cultural fabric of place. To date, Art in Manufacturing has commissioned 31 artists to create exceptional artworks, made in dialogue and collaboration with workforce communities.

Season 6

Season 6 welcomes four new artists into the residency programme. The residencies take place between November 2023 and July 2024, culminating in a celebration of new collaborative installations at the National Festival of Making on 6 and 7 July 2024.

Artist

Born in Pakistan and now living in Manchester, Nehal Aamir’s work represents her multicultural background and experiences as a Muslim woman. With a fascination with craft and its traditional techniques, her work is a fusion of her roots with an attraction for rich British culture through colour and hand-painted surfaces. Nehal has always been interested in storytelling which she showcases through tiles and her work illustrates the rituals and realities of contemporary urban life.

Manufacturer

Darwen Terracotta and Faience have many years experience in the industry, having worked on both restoration and new build projects for some of the most prestigious buildings in the UK, Europe, North America, Canada and Australia.

This is the third Art in Manufacturing residency hosted by industry leader Darwen Terracotta which has supplied products to international artists including Grayson Perry and Richard Deacon. Aamir will work with Darwen Terracotta’s team, drawing on their expertise in the design and manufacture of architectural terracotta, faience and sculpture to create a work that will be exhibited at Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery and informed by its collection during its 150th year in 2024.

Artist

Margo Selby is a British textile artist and designer of woven textiles working with colour and geometric form. She studied at Chelsea College and the RCA, graduating in 2001. Margo has established an expansive approach to working in textiles – across art, design and industry. Margo’s practice as a weaver is at the heart of all of the studio projects. Throughout her work, Margo explores the relationship between man and machine, hand and industry, craft and technology.

Manufacturer

Established in 1924, based in the heart of Lancaster, Standfast & Barracks is renowned for its impressive heritage of textile printing. For 100 years, design, creativity, and innovation have been at the centre of their product development, with expertise in both conventional printing techniques and ground-breaking digital inkjet technology, making them market leaders in fabric printing.

Part of the international Sanderson Design Group, Standfast & Barracks is hosting an artistic residency for the first time, marking its 100-year anniversary in 2024.

This is a National Festival of Making and British Textile Biennial Co-commission.

Artist

Horace Lindezey has been a practising artist for over 30 years. He is a skilled illustrator, textile artist, sculptor and ceramicist. Much of Horace’s work depicts the world around him, his family and memories of his childhood growing up in Hulme and Moss Side, Manchester. In October 2022, Horace exhibited work in YESS LAD, a group exhibition of eight Venture Arts artists showing together for the first time in London at TJ Boulting, during Frieze.

Lindezey is an established studio artist with Venture Arts, a visual artist organisation based in Manchester working with learning disabled artists to deliver placements and exhibitions with artists represented in collections worldwide. After exhibiting in the 2023 National Festival of Making in the group show, YESS LAD, Lindezey, was commissioned to return this year with his first solo exhibition. 

Manufacturer

The Making Rooms is a place where creativity, technology and advanced manufacturing come together in a community facility for use by artists, inventors, students, children and just about everyone else to design and make anything from high-tech products and gadgets to toys, artworks, home decorations and accessibility devices.

At the heart of The Making Rooms is a fab lab containing an impressive range of modern fabrication equipment combining advanced manufacturing with traditional craft processes including 3D printing, laser cutting, electronics, CNC machining, pottery, sculpture and screen printing.

Artist

Sam Williams imagines a world where physical limitations and perceived wisdom operate in flux. Her work draws from her childhood experience growing up in a local theme park, Drayton Manor, where her family (and later she) worked. Using play structures, bold graphics and colourful patterns she dreams up environments that evoke joy and curiosity for audiences old and young.

Manufacturer

Cardboard Box Company is a state of the art corrugated sheet plant that designs and manufactures corrugated board, based in Accrington, East Lancashire.

Their history dates back to the mid-1970s when Chapman Industries formed Chapman Cartons in Darwen, Lancashire to make and supply cardboard boxes to its five envelope manufacturing sites across the UK. Their constant innovation since has led to their products receiving national and international print and design awards.

This is the third Art in Manufacturing residency this multi award winning manufacturer has embarked on.