Norfolk Makers Festival returns to The Forum for a special showcase of Norfolk’s making talent

This will be a unique event, showcasing work by local makers inspired by or completed during lockdown

Norfolk Makers Festival will return to the Forum, Norwich 1-11 June 2021.

Originally due to take place in February the event was temporarily postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The Norfolk Makers’ Festival, now in its sixth year celebrates Norfolk’s local craftspeople, artists and making heritage. Due to Covid-19 restrictions the festival has a new, one-off format for 2021 alongside a new name: Norfolk Makers Festival Showcase.

Event Producer Jayne Evans said: “This will be a unique event, showcasing work by local makers inspired by or completed during lockdown. Even though we can’t offer our usual range of workshops we will have a colourful and inspiring exhibition for all to enjoy. Come along and enjoy displays of weaving, glass modelling, knitting, dyeing, painting, embroidery, craftwork and much more.”

One of the highlights of the festival are the amazing, knitted creations of Margaret Seaman. A regular at previous festivals Margaret’s past projects for charity have been covered on national television and across the world. Highlights include a knitted recreation of Great Yarmouth seafront in its heyday, an enchanted forest and the complete model of the Queen’s residence at Sandringham.

The centrepiece will be the ‘Knittingale Hospital’ – a recreation of a Covid-19 hospital ward which is raising funds for Norfolk's hospitals. This is the first time that the hospital has been on public display and the first time that all of Margaret’s showstopping creations have been brought together.

Other projects on display include masks created by school children with the help of artists from Norwich University of the Arts, a fairytale grotto made from glass, a coronavirus quilt created by the Norwich Costume and Textile Association, displays of beadworking and lacework and a giant knitted Canaries banner.

Norfolk Makers Festival is organised and run by The Forum Trust, the self-financing independent charity which runs The Forum, Norwich. The festival is also supported using public funding by Arts Council England and the Cultural Recovery Fund.

The full programme including online workshops will be released on the Norfolk Makers Festival website