Every material holds a memory. Every object tells a story.

To celebrate 25 years of supporting British craft and design, Design-Nation presents Beneath the Surface: Material and Meaning; a powerful and poetic exhibition about how materials hold stories, memories, and emotion.

Beneath the Surface brings together selected works by 26 leading artists and makers from across the UK, showcasing a cross-section of contemporary craft in clay, glass, metal, textile, wood, and more. Each artist explores personal and shared narratives of identity, memory, migration, transformation, and resilience. The artworks encourage us to slow down and look closer, revealing vulnerability beneath their surface and uncovering deeper stories through material, technique, and process. Rooted in lived experience and shaped by sustainable practice, these objects offer quiet yet profound reflections on the unseen forces that shape our lives.

The exhibition is an invitation to pause, reflect and connect – not just with the objects, but with the emotions, histories, and hands behind them. 

Ft. Adele Howitt, Amy Cushing, Angus Ross, Anne McKenzie, Beatrice Mayfield, Belgin Bozsahin, Belinda Coyne, Bonner Studio, Cosmin Ciofirdel, Debbie Barber, Deborah Timperley, Denise Coupland, Elaine Lim-Newton, Flora Bhattachary, Hounddog Design, Jemma Gowland, Julie Massie, Katherine James, Kim Colebrook, Kira Phoenix K’inan, Majeda Clarke, Mari Thomas, Mary Johnson, Rosa Wiland Holmes, Steinunn Bjarna, Valerie Bernardini