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Do you love a crafternoon? Can you think of nothing better than spending a few hours knitting, making jewellery, or trying your hand at carpentry? Then you might want to pay attention to this. Cockpit Deptford, a swish new arts and crafts centre, has opened in south London, and its got 40 studios.
Cockpit Deptford isn’t technically a brand-new studio space, but it has opened in a fancy newly-refurbed building. The art studios have occupied a 1960s council building since 2002, but its just had a massive £3.4 million refurbishment.
With locations in Bloomsbury and Deptford, Cockpit studios is home to a community of over 175 independent creative businesses ranging from metalsmiths to jewellers to weavers, woodturners, ceramicists and more.
The swanky new space, designed by Cooke Fawcett architects, has a revamped leather-working hub, an education space and a brand new mural outside. The mural, created by resident artist Amber Khokhar, pays homage to Deptford and features references to Sid Vicious, Northern Soul and various trades that used to be based in SE8. It’s also got a tranquil new craft garden packed with plants that are used in the making process. For instance, it grows willow for basketry, and fax and madder which are used in natural dyes.
Twice a year, the studios also open their doors to the public so visitors can see the craftspeople at work. You can find out when the next one is on the Cockpit website here.
Here’s a peek inside the new studios.
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