Artifex Gallery, Sutton Coldfield

Mitchell Art & Craft Centre,
Weeford Road,

Sutton Coldfield
B75 6NA

0121 323 3776

www.artifex.co.uk

Back in 1993, Nigel Bates and Ross Fenn decided that the West Midlands lacked a showcase for the very best of British contemporary craft, with an emphasis on innovation and quality. There were certainly some incredibly talented designers about, producing highly original collections of glass, ironwork, sculpture and jewellery, but there were few, if any, opportunities for them collectively to display their work to the public. It was a situation which Bates and Fenn instinctively knew should be rectified. Although they recognised the work which would be involved they decided to take the plunge and opened a gallery within a converted farm building on the edge of Sutton Coldfield, and proceeded to turn it into an Aladdin’s cave of quality contemporary craftwork by some of the very best designer-makers, not only from the Midlands region but from many other parts of the country. The name Artifex was Ross Fenn’s inspiration, it is derived from the Latin name meaning "skilled craftsmen " but also has a double meaning as it embraces the words Art and Effects which aptly conveys what the gallery is all about.