England | Local crafts | UKCraftFairs

Influential and inspirational people from England
People worth learning a little more about

Damien Hirst

(Born 1965 in Bristol), Painting,Sculpture

Controversial British artist and sculptor.

James Brian Jacques

(Born 1939 in Liverpool in Merseyside), Fiction

A write of childrens novels in the Redwall series among others. Many of the characters in his books where based on the people that Jacques had met.

Patrick Lichfield

(Born 1939 in Staffordshire), Photography

Patrick Anson was the 5th Earl of Lichfield. He became one of the most famous photographers of the 20th century.

Ken Smith

(Born 1938 in Rudston in East Riding of Yorkshire), Poetry

Ken Smith was a British poet and co-editor of Stand magazine from 1963-1972. One of his works, The Pity won the Gregory Award in 1964.

David Bailey

(Born 1938 in Leytonstone in London), Photography

Famous 20th century fashion and celebrity photographer

David Hockney

(Born 1937 in Bradford in West Yorkshire), Painting,Photography

Voted the most influential British artist of the 20th century.

Dennis Potter

(Born 1935 in Berry Hill in Gloucestershire), Fiction

Potter was a writer of fiction such as Pennies from Heaven, The Singing Detective and Blue Remembered Hills. He mixed reality and fiction with popular culture.

Ted Walker

(Born 1934 in Lancing in West Sussex), Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry

He was a journalist, writer of short stories, poet and broadcaster. His poem the Fox on a Barn Door is about his view of the countryside of Sussex.

Bryan Stanley Johnson

(Born 1933 in London in London), Fiction

The writer of Christie Malrys Own Double-Entry in 1973, a dystopian meta-fiction about a disalutions man rans his life using the Double-Entry book keeping system.

Bridget Riley

(Born 1931 in Norwood in London), Art

Bridget Riley is a British artist who was born in Norwood, London. After attending Cheltenham Ladies' College, she studied at Goldsmiths College and the Royal College of Art. She is known for her Optical Art, an abstract style which utilises optical effects to engage and stimulate the viewers senses. One of Britain's best known artists, her work appears in major collections around the world.

Robert Radford Welch

(Born 1929 in Hereford in West Midlands), Silversmith

Welch trained as a silversmith in Birmingham but was influenced by the modernism of Scandinavian designs and created clean and functional designs.

Jean Simmons

(Born 1929 in Lower Holloway in London), Music, Theatre

She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1948 for her role in Hamlet, the Laurence Olivier version. During the 50s she moved to America and work in Hollywood. She performed in the Londons West End during the 70s.

Jane Grigson

(Born 1928 in Gloucester in Gloucestershire), Nonfiction

Jane Grigson was an English cookery writer. She wrote her first book Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery in 1967 and went on to write many more cookery books.

Derek Davis

(Born 1926 in Wandsworth in London), Pottery and ceramics, Painting

Derek Davis developed his ceramics, coming up with several innovative techniques. In 1994 he had an eye operation which afterwards left him unable to work with the pottery kiln, which was when he then started to focus on his painting.

Joan Aiken

(Born 1924 in Rye in East Sussex), Fiction, Nonfiction

She became a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1999, for her services to literature. Her well know early works include The Whispering Mountain and Black Hearts in Battersea. Over the year she has written, plays and poems, period and modern novels, supernatural and magic works, non-fiction and worked with illustrators on picture books.. In all she wrote more than a hundred piece, and readers of her works gained many new friends.

Elizabeth Bartlett

(Born 1924 in Deal in Kent), Poetry

Elizabeth Bartlett was a British poet. She worked for the health service and for the Home Care Service and it was in this environment that she was provided with material for some of her most emotive poems.

Anthony Alfred Caro

(Born 1924 in New Malden in London), Sculpture

Caro was a modernist sculptor who found success in the 1950s. He is also accredited with being the first person to remove the plinth, allowing viewers to be more connected with his work.

Dick King Smith

(Born 1922 in Bitton in Gloucestershire), Fiction

He is perhaps best known for writing The Sheep-Pig. Not heard of it? Well in America it was known as Babe, the Gallant Pig and adapted for film in 1995 as just Babe.

Susan Williams Ellis

(Born 1918 in Guildford in Surrey), Pottery and ceramics

She was the cofounder of Portmeirion Pottery. A designer and business woman. She was the daughter of celebrated architect Clough Williams-Ellis, famous for the development of Portmeirion in the Italian style.

Daphne Hardy Henrion

(Born 1917 in Amersham in Buckinghamshire), Sculpture

Known as having a distinguished career as a sculptress.

Antonia Forest

(Born 1915 in Hampstead in London), Childrens Fiction

Forest was a writer of books aimed at a young audience, you may as a child have read her most famous works about the Marlows.

Hammond Innes

(Born 1913 in Horsham in West Sussex), Fiction, Nonfiction

Innes was a prolific novelist with around thirty titles to his name. He also wrote childrens books and non fiction on travel.

Conroy Maddox

(Born 1912 in Ledbury in Herefordshire), Collage, Fiction, Painting

A collagist, painter and writer. From 1935 on wards he was a part of the Surrealist movement.

Mary Wesley

(Born 1912 in Englefield Green in Surrey), Fiction, Nonfiction

She was without doubt a very popular writer of fiction, Wesley had her last novel Part of the Furniture published in 1997 at age at age 85. It was about a girls life story moving to the West Country and finding her independence and not being just part of the furniture.

Wilbert Awdry

(Born 1911 in Ampfield in Hampshire), Fiction

Writer of the well loved and very popular Thomas the tank engine along with many other stories in the railway series of books. He is perhaps better known as the Reverend W. Awdry.

Arts and crafts in England

Craft Events in England

Tunbridge Wells Artisan Craft and Gift Markets

Crafty Boaters Spring Handmade Market

Arkwright Craft Fair 16th March

Gordale garden centre craft and gift marquee

Wensleydale Craft Fair

Aldershot Craft Fayre - March 2025

Devizes Craft and Gift Market

Hungerford Craft and Gift Market

Folk and Bespoke Artisan Craft Fair

Farehams Artisan Market

Dulwich Village Artisan Fayre and Gift Market

Henley Craft and Gift Market

Artisan food and Indoor Market

March in time for Mothers Day Craft Fair and Fun Dog Show

East Essex Bead Fair

Woodford Park Garden Centre craft and gift marquee

Abingdon Craft and Gift Market

Lyndhurst Craft and Gift Market

Marlborough Craft and Gift Market

Big Up Southend - March

Whyteleafe Food and Craft Market

Dobbies Southport craft and gift marquee

Farnborough Craft Fayre - April 2025

Wensleydale Craft Fair

Norton Craft Fair - Easter 2025

Wallingford Craft and Gift Market

Hyde Makers And Producers Market

Folk and Bespoke Artisan Craft Fair

Craft and Gift Market

Paper Daisy Events Brighton Makers and Artist Market at Jubilee Square

Craft and Gift Fair

Guildford Craft and Gift Market

Norwich Bead Fair

Winchester Craft and Gift Market

Dobbies Chesterfield craft and gift marquee

Salisbury Craft and Gift Market

Lymington Craft and Gift Market

Stalybridge Makers and Producers Market

Essex Spring Shopping Fair

Folk and Bespoke Artisan Craft Fair

Faversham Artisan Crafts and Gift Markets

Farehams Artisan Market

LESLA Spring Arts and Crafts Fair

Paper Daisy Events Easter Makers Fair at Saltdean Lido

Paper Daisy Events Easter Makers Fair at Saltdean Lido

Mansfield Civic Centre Craft Fair 13th April

Creative Workshops at Paper Daisy Saltdean Easter Makers Fair

Tunbridge Wells Artisan Craft and Gift Markets

Artists and crafts people in EnglandHandmade and homespun artisan crafters from in and around England.

Urgent Stitches

Pywright

Calypso Sephora

Sue Pearson

Gumec Crafts

K and K Sewing

now thats good store

A Dried Spell in Floral Art

Vintage Concepts by Zou

Miniature creations

One Jewellery

LB Clay Crafting

Artworks by Jan

Shaftesbury Scotts

Abbielouise

Rens Handmade Jewellery

Random Acrylics

Spookshow Illustrations

The ARC Shed

Choughed Online Art

Violet Haze Handcrafted Silver Jewellery

Praenuntia

La Chaise Crafts

Mega Lily Design

TJAMS

AndReal

The Charming Angel Company

Angela Lilley Photography

Crafty Heidi

Artists and crafts people in England
Handmade and homespun artisan crafters from in and around England.

Blog Posts
Craft posts by members in the england section

Influential and inspirational people from England
People worth learning a little more about