Future Icons highlights a range of design and craft-oriented works, what do you look out for when selecting new clients?  

Firstly, I look at passion. You can quickly see through the making skills and originality of the makers collection that passion for their discipline is at the core of their businesses.   

I also look at collections and ask myself ‘would I have this in my home’. I believe that if I aim to pitch and sell collections for my artisans, I must truly love the collections. This is then backed up with provenance they have provided me within their application. Both points significantly help me to ‘sell my artisans’ for new commercial or private projects. 

Following this process, I meet suitable applicants to view works and most importantly discuss if we can work with each other. I have very personal relationships with each business; therefore, a mutual trust and respect must be in place for membership to be granted.

What drove your direction into the craft and design sector - where did this journey begin for you? 

I was one of the lucky ones, I knew I had to work in the design industry since my teenage years. This led me to focus my education on a path to Brighton University’s 3D Design for Production BA programme. Our course opted to showcase our final projects at the annual graduate design fair; New Designers. Whilst exhibiting, I was offered the opportunity to showcase one of my lights and support the team through an internship for New Designers Selection during London Design Festival 2004. After this event, I was offered a full-time position in early 2005 as a sales executive for ND, gradually becoming Sales Manager.   

After 5 years, I left ND to work for a new show – Clerkenwell Design Week. Between 2010 – 2015, I was appointed Head of Sales and Venue Curator for this international design festival.   

Between these two events, I was privileged to learn a managerial skill set across sales, marketing and operations alongside building up a network of industry contacts. Following these positions, I was appointed Chief Executive at Craft Central, a charity which housed 76 craft led brands in their former sites across Clerkenwell. Although I had always keenly followed the corporate furniture, lighting and material industries, Craft Central provided me the opportunity to learn more about craft and making processes. I instantly fell in love with these historical crafts and gained a deeper understanding of craftsmanship across a wide spectrum of disciplines.   

Previous to Craft Central moving to their new location in Mudchute, London, I decided I wanted to set up my own hybrid platform to support selected craft and design led brands, so I set up Future Icons in April 2017 and haven’t looked back.

How do you approach the curation and display of your clients work - what is your source of inspiration?  

This is a very hard question to answer. I do not set themes or ask them to respond to a brief as each business has its own individual business goals for exhibiting through Future Icons Selects.   

Therefore, I ask all artisans to submit their collections and ideal location within our venues. I then look at a the submitted collections and dissect the concepts, materials, colour pallet, textures, and identify if it is free standing or wall based. I then look at the visitor experience, often trying to partner complimentary collections together as this often inspires interior designers and buyers for projects.   

This process easily takes me 3-5 weeks of work to layout. Once on site, I always tweak the displays as you can always plan on paper but for me it will never be 100% right until I see all the works together. I’m a visual person and need to see works together before I am happy with the curation.  

What feeling do you hope visitors will take away after attending a Future Icons event?  

I want our visitors to be inspired and to gain a further understand of the craft on display. This can be achieved by viewing the piece, but the real enthusiasm and knowledge is created when the visitor meets the artisan. I also hope our visitors gain a deeper appreciation of an object, looking at as a piece you buy once, keep, treasure it and hand it down. We have been in a throwaway society for too long now.