Ditchling: A Craft Community
Images
copyright © the Crafts Study Centre, and courtesy of VADS.
Eric Gill and Ditchling
In 1921, the letter-cutter, sculptor, artist and writer Eric Gill founded an arts and crafts colony in Ditchling, East Sussex. Known as The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic, it was a unique experiment in communal life in the early twentieth century, and survived until 1989. Earlier, in 1912 Edward Johnston, celebrated as the founder of modern calligraphy, moved to Ditchling. Johnston had taught and inspired Eric Gill at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London and had a deep and lasting influence on the revival of 20th century calligraphy. The hand-weaver Ethel Mairet set up her weaving workshop Gospels at around the same time (1917 - 1920) doing the same for weaving as Johnston achieved for calligraphy. Her workshop attracted large numbers of students, including the renowned and innovative weaver Peter Collingwood. Photo left : Ethel Mairet's workgirls and apprentices at her 'Gospels' workshop, Ditchling, in the 1930s.
The Crafts Study Centre collections are especially rich in the work of Edward Johnston (1872-1944) and Ethel Mairet (1872-1952). These include both objects and supporting paper archives. The Edward Johnston paper archive includes some 870 items ranging from diaries and notebooks, correspondence, class sheets, blackboard demonstrations and letters, to books and essays by Johnston and others. Works by Edward Johnston include over 200 pieces such as broadsides, trials, finished drafts, manuscripts, books and posters. They date from as early as 1898 and include prints of some of Johnston’s famous designs for the London Underground. Photo left: Edward Johnston (1872-1944)
The Ethel Mairet collections are extensive and encompass hand woven lengths and lengths, experimental samples demonstrating weaving techniques and the use of natural dyes, published works on spinning, weaving and dyeing and a large collection of ethnic textiles from across the world amassed for her inspiration and enjoyment. An extensive paper archive including personal documents, travel journals, correspondence, material relating to exhibitions of Gospels' work, accounts and order books, photographs and lecture notes contextualizes Mairet’s life and work. Photo right: Ethel Mairet (1872-1952)
The Centre also holds a small Eric and Macdonald Gill archive consisting of drawings and designs for greetings cards from the family, photographs of Eric Gill's sculptures and lecture notes. A garden roller made of stone for Ethel Mairet's garden at Gospels and inscribed by Eric Gill also forms a part of the collections.
- Jean Vacher, Collections Manager, Crafts Study Centre, University for the Creative Arts
Collections at the Crafts Study Centre
- Edward Johnston (1872-1944): this collection includes diaries, notebooks, photographs, and lecture notes
- Ethel Mairet (1872-1952): correspondence, photographs, and travel journals
- Ethel Mairet sample books: wool samples, yarns samples, weaving samples collected by Ethel Mairet, with some photographs
- Ethel Mairet textile archive: wool samples, yarns samples, weaving samples, and dye samples, compiled by Ethel Mairet
- Esme Davis (active 1940s): woven textile artists; this collection includes correspondence with Ethel Mairet, and photographs of Ethel Mairet's work
- Hilda Breed (1898-1984): woven textile artist
- Marianne Straub (1909-1994): woven textile artist and friend of Edward Johnston and Ethel Mairet; this collection is of woven textiles samples
- Bernard Leach (1887-1979): artist and potter; member of the Red Rose Guild
- Red Rose Guild of Artworkers: founded in Manchester in 1920 by Margaret Pilkington (1891-1974) ; the Guild exhibited work by Ethel Mairet
- Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher textile archive: printed textile samples by Phyllis Barron (1890-1964) and Dorothy Larcher (1884-1952)
- Eric and Macdonald Gill: this collection includes drawings by Eric Gill and by his brother Macdonald (1884-1947), the designer, architect and mural painter
Other collections
- Edward Johnston: doodles by Johnston on the back of sheet music; originally collected by the surgeon and literary scholar GeoffreyLangdon Keynes (1887-1982)
- Edward Johnston: calligraphic testimonial, 1918, to the writer Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh (1872-1961)
- C. R. Ashbee (1863-1942), architect and designer; .founded the Guild and School of Handicrafts, and established a community in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire; Ashbee was a close friend of Ethel Mairet
- Margaret Pilkington (1891-1974): Manchester wood engraver, the director of Whitworth Art Gallery, and founder of the Red Rose Guild
Related websites
- Crafts Study Centre: home to internationally-renowned collections of modern British craft, at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, Surrey
- Eric Gill Society: a resource for the work and history of Eric Gill and the Guild of St Joseph
- Edward Johnston Foundation: a research centre for calligraphy and the lettering arts
- Ethel Mairet: Thirteen Weavers: profile of Ethel Mairet and her workshop (VADS website)
- The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic: (Wikipedia website)
- Learn About Style: Arts and Crafts: how to recognise Arts and Crafts design (VADS website)
- Ditchling Museum: Ditchling, Sussex, has a museum dedicated to the artists that settled there early in the last century
- Court Barn: museum of craft and design, Chipping Cambden, Gloucestershire
- Ditchling Common Country Park: the public park in East Sussex is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSI) due to its rare flora and fauna
Suggested reading
Links are provided to records on Copac for these items. Copac is the free, web based national union catalogue, containing the holdings of many of the major university and National Libraries in UK and Ireland plus a number of special libraries. For more information about accessing items see the FAQs on the Copac website.
- M. Coatts A Weaver's Life: Ethel Mairet (1983) Records on Copac
- Ditchling Museum Catalogue of the permanent collection of works by Edward Johnston, Eric Gill, the Guild of St. Joseph and St. Dominic and the other famous artists working in Ditchling in the 1920s (1993) Records on Copac
- Edward Johnston Writing & Illuminating, & Lettering (1906) Records on Copac
- Priscilla Johnston Edward Johnston (1976) (2nd ed.) Records on Copac
- Fiona MacCarthy Eric Gill (1989) Records on Copac
- Maggs Bros. Ditchling & Beyond: work by Eric Gill, David Jones, Edward Johnston ... et al. (2006) Records on Copac
- Ethel Mary Mairet Handweaving To-day: traditions and changes (1939) Records on Copac
- Esther Meynell and H.D.C. Pepler The Story of Ditchling (1946) Records on Copac
- Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers: quarterly journal of the Association of the Guilds of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers Records on Copac
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