Collect 2026: Celebrating Contemporary Ceramics and the London Potters Artists at Somerset House
Every spring, Somerset House becomes the beating heart of contemporary craft as Collect, the international fair for contemporary objects, brings together leading galleries, makers, and collectors from around the world. While the fair spans a wide range of disciplines — from glass to textiles to metalwork — ceramics continues to stand at the forefront, reflecting both the material’s deep heritage and its ever‑expanding expressive potential.
Another superbly curated and finely edited presentation at Somerset House for Collect 2026 this year, and the first edition led by the new Fair Director TF Chan. The leading annual art fair dedicated to contemporary, museum-quality craft and design, returned to Somerset House for its 22nd edition from 27 February to 01 March 2026. The fair, presented by Crafts Council, brought together 40 specialist galleries and arts organisations from across the globe, featuring works by over 300 living artists. The exhibitors hail from countries including Canada,Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, and the UK. Emerging names were positioned alongside established masters, showing the importance of sustaining and evolving traditions and heritage across generations. Collect 2026 also included work by several London Potters members, showcased through respected and long‑established galleries.
This year’s edition once again confirms what many in the field already know: ceramics is not simply experiencing a revival, it is shaping the future of contemporary craft. The fair showcases work that pushes boundaries — technically, conceptually, and aesthetically — and demonstrates how clay remains one of the most dynamic mediums for artistic innovation.
Ceramics at the Centre of Collect
Ceramic artists at Collect explore the full spectrum of the medium: sculptural forms, functional reinterpretations, experimental surfaces, and conceptual installations. The diversity of approaches highlights clay’s unique ability to hold narrative, gesture, and material memory. From refined porcelain to rugged stoneware, from traditional firing techniques to cutting‑edge experimentation, the ceramic presence at Collect is both rich and compelling.
For visitors, the fair offers a rare opportunity to see top end‑quality work up close, engage with makers, and understand the processes behind the pieces. For collectors, it remains one of the most important international platforms for discovering new voices in contemporary ceramics.
London Potters Members at Collect
This year, we are especially proud to celebrate several London Potters members who are taking part in the fair. Their presence at Somerset House is a testament to the strength, diversity, and professionalism of our community.
Our members exhibiting at Collect bring a wide range of practices — from sculptural ceramics to refined functional ware, from experimental surfaces to narrative‑driven forms. Each artist contributes a distinct voice to the broader conversation around contemporary craft, and their participation highlights the calibre of talent within the LP membership.
- Belgin Bozsahin with Design Nation
- Claudette Forbes with Cynthia Corbett Gallery
- Heather Gibson with County Hall Pottery and also with Thrown
- Barbara Gittings with Contemporary Applied Arts
- Henrietta McPhjee with Ruup & Form
- Julie Massie with Design-Nation
- Valeria Nascimento with jaggedart
- Carolyn Tripps with Cynthia Corbett Gallery
A Moment of Recognition for the Ceramic Community
Collect is more than a fair — it is a celebration of the makers who dedicate themselves to material exploration and artistic excellence. For our LP members, exhibiting at Somerset House offers visibility on an international stage and the opportunity to connect with curators, collectors, and fellow artists.
As London Potters, we are proud to support and champion their achievements. Their presence at Collect reinforces our mission: to nurture, promote, and celebrate ceramic practice in all its forms. Overall, Collect 2026 underscored the vitality of ceramics within the wider craft landscape. Collect remains a crucial meeting point for those shaping the future of contemporary ceramics. The Fair worked with long-standing partners like Brookfield Properties, Loewe Foundation as Fair Partner for a ninth year, Spinocchia Freund, Trimble SketchUp and Woven Spaces.
Ceramics Highlights
Caroline Fisher Projects – ‘The Garden Comes Inside’, was at the Fair with a display of ceramics that focused on animals, plants and the soil. Lloyd Choi presented works by Lee Jung Suk. Contemporary Applied Arts (CAA) presented works by LP member Barbara Gittings. Oriel Zinaburg (Collect Open) presented a collection of sculptures inspired by Wally Birds, an idiosyncratic series of stoneware jars by the late-19th-century pottery manufacturers the Martin Brothers. Jihyun Kim (Collect Open) continued to develop her series of slipcast ceramic vessels evoking the forms of fungi. Creative Industries Institute presented works by Alicja Patanowska. Design-Nation presented works by Kirsty Adams, also by LP member Belgin Bozsahin, Julie Massie. jaggedart presented works by Lucas Ferreira. Ruup & Form presented works by Carla Wright, Ekta Bagri, LP member Henrietta MacPhee. Creative Industries Institute presented works by Marcin Juberna. Cynthia Corbett Gallery presented works by SaeRi Seo, also LP members Carolyn Tripp, Claudette Forbes. Joanna Bird Gallery had a rich showcase of ceramicists including Florian Gadsby, Halima Cassell. Throw Gallery presented artists Heather Gibson. Important also to acknowledge the galleries that curated their programmes around artists who work primarily in ceramics, and several of them stood out this year for their strong focus on artists using clay as their main medium, such asDaguet-Bresson Gallery, this gallery celebrates ceramics as a powerful and surprising art form, where material, gesture, and imagination meet. Founded by Florian Daguet-Bresson, the gallery championed a new generation of ceramic artists, chosen for their boldness, their contribution to the evolving history of the medium, and above all, for their aesthetic rigour and excellence of execution. For Collect 2026, Gallery FUMI showed a solo presentation of works by Ghanaian artist Kobina Adusah. Adusah views clay as a material imbued with stories and understands his role as listening to what it remembers and giving it form. In this way, his works give shape to inherited narratives – both personal and universal. County Hall Pottery, is one of the new additions to this year fair presented a selection of artists drawn from our recent exhibition programme. The works reflect the wider CHP ecology, where exhibitions sit alongside active making, studios that function as classrooms, the Artist in Residence programme, and access to large-scale electric and gas kilns.
Collect Open
Alongside the gallery presentations, Collect Open, brought together the work of 11 artists selected for the annual showcase of bold, craft-led installations by artists and collectives. Collect Open champions work that tells stories challenging material, social, political or personal perceptions, and cements Collect’s broader commitment to platforming artists who push the boundaries of traditional craft techniques. This dedicated platform is open to individual makers, artists, and groups/collectives, with Crafts Council offering bursaries, application deadline is usually around spring.
TF Chan, Fair Director of Collect, said: “Collect has always been the place to encounter ambitious contemporary craft, and to see how galleries champion artists who bring together exceptional skill and imagination. While we deepen this commitment, we are enhancing the fair’s role as a platform for collectible design, where unique and limited-edition furniture is presented with the same care as museum-quality craft. Our 2026 exhibitors reveal how seamlessly these worlds come together, and how craft and design are integral to wider conversations about material culture and contemporary life”. Natalie Melton, Crafts Council’s Executive Director, said: “Collect continues to showcase how dynamic, storied and skilful the craft market is today. It’s an opportunity to connect with and purchase works from galleries and makers from across the globe, whilst celebrating the extraordinary craft talent that the UK produces. It’s a generous, celebratory moment in the craft calendar; a first appearance at the fair can provide a remarkable springboard to someone’s career, and forge connections with collectors and purchasers that endure for decades”.
Looking Ahead
As the ceramics world continues to evolve, events like Collect remind us of the importance of community, craftsmanship, and creative exchange. We look forward to seeing how our members continue to shape the field — in London, across the UK, and internationally.
Review by Mari Balsama Wilson
Photo credits:
Lee Jung Suk, Fragile 1813, 2018. Presented by Lloyd Choi Gallery at Collect 2026. Photography: Tian Khee Siong
Carla Wright, installation view. Courtesy of Ruup & Form. Photo: Carla Wright.
HIROKI, Eden, 2023. Courtesy of Hiroki / White Conduit Projects for Collect 2026. Photo: HEIANDO.
Other Images courtesy of the Craft Council.