Marta Cucchia | Embroiderer

At Charleston House, the exhibition Virginia Woolf and the Hogarth Press (through September 6, 2026) brings into focus an often-overlooked dimension of Virginia Woolf’s legacy as a printer and maker. Through rare hand-printed editions, working materials, and intimate archival correspondence, it traces how the Hogarth Press became both a site of radical literary production and a deeply personal craft practice.

Lace, though not technically a fabric, has threaded through European history as dress, trim, and signifier of status. Traditionally crafted by women, it is distinguished by its disciplined construction from thread and air, which holds both technical and cultural significance. Despite its delicacy, lace has endured through centuries of changing fashion. Cabana explores its history with Catherine Gauthier, curator of lace at Brussels' Fashion & Lace Museum.

Mechanical watchmaking persists as a quiet rebuke to disposable design, uniting centuries of craft, artistry and engineering in objects that do more than tell time. From their origins as decorative curiosities to today’s high horology masterpieces, watches have evolved through a dialogue between makers, jewellers and artists. In an age of frictionless digital convenience, the mechanical watch offers something rarer: a tactile, intimate experience in which time is not merely measured, but carefully constructed, animated and preserved through human ingenuity.

Liza Antrim’s deeply personal dolls’ house, Westwood House, is one twelfth the size of the grand showpieces that inspired it, yet deserves comparison on craft alone. Built by craftsman David West, this large (by miniature standards) and exquisitely detailed house features elegant 18th-century interiors.

Founded in 1992, Tim Page Carpets has established itself as one of the UK’s foremost names in bespoke floorcoverings. Working with highly skilled artisan weavers and tufters from across the globe, the brand is renowned for its mastery of hand-crafted rugs and carpets, championing traditional techniques through a lens of innovative design.

Rubelli is a name well known to two distinct audiences: those with an intimate knowledge of Venice and its hidden gems, and textile connoisseurs who never tire of its sumptuous damasks, velvets, and intricately woven silks. Its workshops are steeped in history and have always remained family-run; one might say they represent a textbook example of that much-vaunted Italian excellence.

Gwaai Edenshaw is a contemporary Haida jeweler and carver bridging ancient formline traditions with modern practice, preserving stories, language, and identity through jewelry, sculpture, and film as resistance.

In Perugia’s first Franciscan church, once home to Saint Francis and later a mill, now stands the Atelier Giuditta Brozzetti. Marta Cucchia, fourth generation, preserves the “tovaglia alla peroscina,” a medieval sacred embroidery once famed across Europe, nearly erased by Pope Paul III’s ban, kept alive today through storytelling and cultural memory. 

In Turkey’s Black Sea region, hazelnut basket weaving unites sustainability, body, and mind. This tradition, embodied by master Bekir Hervenik, follows natural rhythms, supports physical health, and risks disappearing with the advance of modern, global life.

Self-taught Gabonese sculptor Vincent Moukagni-Boukinda has spent over 30 years carving Mbigou stone into female figures poised between nature and human form. Deeply rooted in Gabon, his work embodies material memory, tradition, and a contemporary national artistic and historical identity. 

London-based artist Johnny Randoll grew up immersed in making, from early experiments with papier-mâché and clay to painting imagined seaside scenes and later creating bold abstract murals. Largely self-taught, his practice draws on a lifelong fascination with antiques, curiosities, natural forms and symbolism.

Leather: the versatile material synonymous with the highest expressions of luxury and craftsmanship, yet equally bound to the most fundamental, utilitarian needs. Despite its value, much of the knowledge behind its making and care is at risk of extinction. At the Leather Conservation Centre, a small team works to preserve not only objects but an endangered body of expertise.