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 26 artists to create exceptional artworks, made in dialogue and collaboration with workforce communities.

Season 5

Season 5 welcomes five new artists into the residency programme working across installation, sculpture, performance and textiles. From whimsical chocolate box histories to sensory playscapes and community collaborations, intriguing theatre and public art, the unique residency programme results in contemporary artworks that will be exhibited at the National Festival of Making on 8th & 9th July 2023.

Download Art in Manufacturing Programme

Artist

Ibukun Baldwin is a multidisciplinary artist and social practitioner specialising in print, illustration and embroidery. Centred in the human, social and environmental, her work has grown out of an awareness of the neglected needs of marginalised communities and the potential role that innovative, contemporary, hand-crafted design can play. Baldwin is also founder of fashion brand Bukky Baldwin Ltd which focuses on the importance of community and providing employment opportunities for marginalised groups.

Past commissions include a residency at The Whitworth in Manchester, exploring community grief and healing with Manchester International Festival and working with Tŷ Pawb to support a group of Wrexham based refugees and asylum seekers in producing accessories and homewares to launch their own micro businesses.

Manufacturer

Cookson & Clegg were founded in Blackburn in 1860. By the mid-20th century, they were a major supplier of military outerwear, legwear and other sewn products to the British Army. Today the firm employs those same expert skills essential in the production of military grade clothing and applies them to the manufacturing of jeans, chinos, trousers, and workwear for some of the UK’s finest sustainable clothing brands, including jeans for Patrick Grant’s Community Clothing brand.

The commission comes at a time when Cookson & Clegg is taking steps to address the limitations for working parents and potential employees of the standard factory shift, by introducing the innovative, ‘10 ‘til 2 Production Line’. The initiative has attracted parents of school age children to re-enter the workplace.

Residency

Centred in the human, social and environmental, Ibukun Baldwin‘s work has grown out of an awareness of the neglected needs of marginalised communities and the potential role that innovative, contemporary, hand-crafted design can play. Baldwin is also founder of fashion brand Bukky Baldwin Ltd which focuses on the importance of community and providing employment opportunities for marginalised groups.

Prism Contemporary has been transformed into a floor-to-ceiling textile installation during Ibukun Baldwin’s residency with clothing manufacturer Cookson & Clegg. With the support of Palwasha and Razma who have recently been evacuated from Afghanistan and who joined the project as hired Art Assistants, Ibukun has developed the Funufactury using deadstock denim from the factory. Try out stitching and patching and add to the expanding piece.

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

Find out more about the exhibition at the National Festival of Making here.

Artist

Sam Belinfante is an artist living and working in London. Along with filmmaking and photographic work, his practice incorporates curating, sound and performance. Recent exhibitions include On the Heights, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2017) and This is a Voice at MAAS Sydney and Wellcome Collection, London (2016-17) Recent performances include They Are Waiting for You, with Laure Prouvost and Pierre Droulers at Kaaitheater, Brussels (2019) and Feedback at Palais De Tokyo, Paris (2017).

In 2021 Belinfante presented On the Circulation of Blood, a major sculptural and performance commission for Creative Folkestone Triennial; and in May 2023 Belinfante presented new performance work, ‘a long, very long journey’, with Laure Prouvost at Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna.

Manufacturer

Panaz is recognised as an industry leader, constantly designing and innovating sustainable, flame-retardant fabrics for the contract interiors market. Panaz supply ready-to-go textile solutions for Hospitality, Healthcare and Workspace design projects.

With a commitment to caring for the environment, innovations such as EcoTWILL™ – the industry’s first, 100% recycled, contract quality, polyester base cloth – and partnerships with organisations such as the Ribble Rivers Trust cement their status as one of the world’s most environmentally-friendly contract fabric suppliers.

Residency

During the residency, Belinfante’s focus has been the investigation of Moire patterns and optical effects induced through the movements of sheer fabrics – textiles have the capacity to conjure illusion and narrative; to speak through and from within the warp and weft.

Through these playful experiments at Panaz the artist is reminded of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the famous play-within-a-play – a continuation of Belinfante’s research work at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. In Blackburn, the role of Shakespeare’s Mechanicals will feature again as he aims to open up spaces in the building’s story to create a striking physical environment and performative experience at the Cotton Exchange.

This exhibition has low level lighting and features lighting effects with moving and flashing lights.

This exhibition will also be open from 13th-15th July.

Find out more about the exhibition at the National Festival of Making here.

Artists

Stephanie Jefferies and Sarah Marsh are two artists and play specialists, working together as a collective. Both artists have established their own individual practice; exploring playful design and sculptural textile objects. Together, they are forming their own sensory-language.

Working with esteemed clients such as Tate Liverpool, The Tetley, Royal Academy of Arts and The Hepworth, each artist has developed a practice working with diverse audiences to deliver interactive and immersive spaces that encourage creativity and curiosity.

Manufacturer

Herbert Parkinson Textile Factory based in Darwen, Lancashire became part of the John Lewis Partnership in 1953, and ever since has been a thriving example of UK design, quality and craftsmanship. Combining the best of modern technology and traditional skills, Herbert Parkinson makes many of John Lewis’s own brand soft furnishings, duvets, pillows, and all of their Made to Measure products.

Herbert Parkinson is a major employer in the local community, with over 250 partners working there. They are committed to supporting the textile industry and have been successful in keeping British manufacturing at the heart of Lancashire.

Residency

Sensory memories of sound, touch and smell have been collected from partners of the factory to delve into the 70-year history of the people that have worked there and will be woven into a playful installation for families to explore together. Audiences will be invited to follow the flow of the factory floor, searching for the ever present heartbeat of the looms, slowing down to interact with touchable objects, wearable pieces and soft sculpture.

At the National Festival of Making, discover this playful installation for families to explore together. Experience the flow of the factory floor, search for the ever present heartbeat of the looms and interact with touchable objects, wearable pieces and soft sculpture.

Find out more about the exhibition at the National Festival of Making here.

Artist

Sapien is the alias and studio of artist and sculptor Steve Anwar, a maker of solid steel sculptures inspired by ethereal weightlessness. Born and raised in Sheffield’s Brutalist Kelvin Flats, he is interested in exposing boundary lines between opposing elements: mind and matter, nature and machinery, steel and spirit. After discovering meditation as an aid to recovery in his own severely debilitating illness, Anwar is also an experienced meditation teacher with 17 years of dedicated practice.

Longlisted for the 2023 Aesthetica Art Prize, Sapien’s past clients include Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wentworth Pewter and Taylor Wimpey.

Manufacturer

Established in 1985, SWS UK is a Lancaster-based manufacturer of garage doors, roller shutters, and retractable gates. Employing a dedicated in-house research and development team, SWS UK has earned a reputation as one of the industry’s leading manufacturers.  Pioneering design and refined production methods have led to a succession of industry breakthroughs that keep SWS UK’s products ahead of the curve.  Located in the picturesque Lune Valley, SWS UK employs a workforce of just over 100 at its purpose-built premises. Its diverse product range is made-to-measure and installed nationwide via a network of approved distributors.

Residency

For more than a decade, Sapien has collaborated with factories and this commission presents an opportunity to draw on his industrial roots and dual heritage, contrasting ancient wisdom with Northern English manufacturing and craftsmanship.

Inspired by folkloric stories unearthed during his residency with SWS UK – manufacturer of garage doors, roller shutters and retractable gates with a proximity to the River Lune – Sapien AKA Steve Anwar has created a new steel sculpture.

Representing warriors of Manx mythology, Wave Sweeper is an expression of both the manufacturer’s place in rural Lancashire and its wider geographic ties, as well as the artist’s practice, informed by the opposing elements of mind and matter, nature and machinery, steel and spirit.

Find out more about the exhibition at the National Festival of Making here.

Artist

Illuminos are brothers Matt and Rob Vale, who, for over 10 years,  have been creating visually inventive, memorable projection artworks and experiences. Works range from epic scale illumination to small scale interventions, but always working to create something unique and specific to location and viewer. Formed around a principal of People, Site, Animation, and often combining elements of installation, dance, theatre, pyrotechnics and music, each project that Illuminos approaches develops from an exploration of the emotions of an environment, aiming to capture the essence of a place, space or feeling as shared moments in time

Manufacturer

Shortlisted for The Telegraph ‘SME of the Year’ award and winner of the Community Engagement Award at the 2022 Paper Industry Gold Awards, Cardboard Box Company designs, prints and manufactures corrugated board for industrial and retail packaging solutions. Their state-of-the-art plant has seen fast growth in recent years through an incredible story of investment and invention. Whilst creating more than 50,000 design solutions for customers, the firm remains an inventive, creative and people-centric company, committed to the local area.

Residency

Experience a moment of wonder and delight in a magical new installation of illuminated chocolate boxes. During their residency with Cardboard Box Company, Illuminos have delved into their own family history, taking inspiration from their Grandfather, Bob Peddie’s confectionery shop window in 1950s Accrington.

The cardboard installation will come to life using animation and projection mapping with a confection of imaginative tales, like something from a fairy story, along with the family’s archival material.

Find out more about the exhibition at the National Festival of Making here.