In Pictures: Burberry Makers House

Burberry has brought its first straight-to-consumer collection to life with the opening of the Makers House, a collaboration with The New Craftsmen to showcase some of Britain’s finest craft makers.

Celebrating the inspiration behind the collection that just showed during London Fashion Week, the Makers House brings together original works by a selection of makers who are using the space to experiment and create, using the Burberry collection influenced by Virginia Woolf's Orlando, and contrasting masculine and feminine styles, as a starting point for their work.

Burberry chief creative and chief executive officer, Christopher Bailey explains: “Just as Virginia Woolf's Orlando is both a love-letter to the past and a work of profound modernity, this exhibition aims to nod both to the design heritage that is so integral to Burberry's identity, and to some of Britain’s most exciting creators, and the innovation and inspiration behind their work.”

The free pop-up, open until September 27, occupies the former Foyle’s bookshop in Soho which now serves as the new venue for Burberry’s catwalk shows, and features not only the full first “seasonless” collection just shown, but also displays a daily changing programme of activities and installations staged by The New Craftsmen, including sculpting, bookbinding, silk-screen printing, calligraphy and embroidery.

Burberry collaborates with The New Craftsmen for exhibition

Visitors arrive into the exhibition through a leafy and floral courtyard, which has been filled with equestrian sculptures and busts, and has tables situated around to enjoy tea from the pop-up Thomas’s Cafe. You then enter the warehouse-like space to see artists and craftsman, including young artist Thomas Merrett, who’s creating a clay figure in a makeshift studio, while next to him is London-based textile artist Rose de Borman demonstrating silk-screen painting on silk scarves.

Other skills on displays include stitching and embroidery from the Royal School of Needlework, bookbinding by Shepherds and Bespoke and Bound, theatrical readings, military embellishments from the King’s Troop, and passementerie, the process of making elaborate trimmings and tassels being demonstrated by Aimee Betts and Jessica Light.

There is also a great gallery mood board displaying images, swatches, and illustrations to bring to life the ideas and concepts behind Bailey’s “seasonless” collection.

The highlight though is to see the entire Burberry collection displayed upstairs alongside the video of the catwalk show. Visitors are encouraged to touch the fabrics, see the embellished detailing up close, and admiring the intricate details that make up the collection, which is now available to buy, as well as sit on the seats surround the collection as though they were on the front row.

The Makers House is open until September 27.

Images: Danielle Wightman-Stone