The launch of October Craft Month 2025 marks five years since Farnham achieved World Craft Town status. The day-long event celebrates the ecosystem of craft within the town and region, and includes workshops, talks and demonstrations. Themes for the opening event are taken from the Crafts Study Centre exhibition Fluidity and Inscription which focusses on the materiality of mark making and writing both atop and into the surface of objects.
In an increasingly digital age and with most people equipped with smartphones, communication feels easy, straightforward, linear, and something that demands little attention. This event, alongside the exhibition, will tell a different story: of craftspeople devoted to exploring the affordances and expressive possibilities of writing, the importance of embodied knowledge and the mobilisation of the whole body and gesture in the course of mark making. At the opening we celebrate letters, calligraphy, craft and communication with audiences in Farnham and beyond.
This event is supported by the Society of Scribes and Illuminators and the Irene Wellington Educational Trust.
Full CSC programme
10-12.30: Mary Noble Calligrapher. Drop-in
Watch Mary Noble demonstrate calligraphy techniques and see examples of her work. Noble is Fellow of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators and of the Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society, author of several how-to calligraphy books, and an experienced calligraphy teacher. https://www.marynoble.co.uk/
12.30-2pm: Ewan Clayton in conversation with Rosalind Wyatt.
Join us for a conversation between one of the best-known calligraphers in the UK and Professor in Design at the University of Sunderland, Ewan Clayton, and Rosalind Wyatt an artist who originally trained in calligraphy, but has moved on to explore lettering and writing in multiple contexts from embroidery, film, design and fashion. The conversation will touch on writing across different materials, how material shapes communication, the mobilisation of the body when writing, and the role of imagination in mark making.
2-4.30pm: Matthew Loughlin. Drop-in.
Matthew Loughlin is one of the emerging talents within the field of letter cutting and stone carving. He will be demonstrating these traditional skills on a standing easel and will bring some examples of work. Loughlin was trained as an apprentice for several years before setting up his practice the Memorial Workshop. He recently collaborated with the Crafts Study Centre on a piece exhibited as part of Open. https://memorialworkshop.com/
Alongside the CSC programme there will be drop-in workshops, have-a-go sessions, craft stalls, pop up exhibitions and demonstrations. These will be organised by the Farnham Craft Town partnership, in particular Farnham Town Council and Farnham Maltings.
