Taking Time: Craft and the Slow Revolution considers how the practice of contemporary craft making embraces similar values and philosophies to those supported by the Slow Movement.  Both think through where things are made, by whom and the importance of provenance. They ask us to slow down, perhaps not literally but certainly philosophically, and to reflect on other and perhaps more thoughtful ways of doing things.
Time has an important emphasis in this exhibition. 
The works on display may ask questions of notions of time.  We hope that within the exhibition space you can forget the seconds, minutes and hours of every day life, not needing to ask ‘how long did it take to make?’ but being encouraged to find a temporary place for time to think through and be absorbed by the work.
The exhibition, which has been curated by the maker Helen Carnac for Craftspace, brings together nineteen international artists, makers and designers whose making practice and work connects with these ideas. In different and sometimes overlapping ways they examine the world through making and in places quietly ask questions about global and local conditions that we find ourselves in today. The exhibition aims to show that contemporary craft practice and its methodologies can generate a modern and timely response to current social debates.

What is the Slow Movement?
“The Slow Movement is a cultural revolution against the notion that faster is always better. The Slow philosophy is not about doing everything at a snail’s pace. It’s about seeking to do everything at the right speed. Savouring the hours and minutes rather than just counting them. Doing everything as well as possible, instead of as fast as possible. It’s about quality over quantity in everything from work to food to parenting.”
Carl HonorĂ©, author of “In Praise of Slow”

In addition to the work by the selected exhibitors there are several projects represented which were undertaken as part of the development of the exhibition.  Time in Print was an action research project delivered in partnership with the National Trust.  A group of African Caribbean elders from the West Midlands Caribbean Parents and Friends Association, worked with designer Linda Florence at Wightwick Manor in Wolverhampton.  The group have produced their own creative responses to the issues surrounding the Slow Movement which are inspired by William Morris and the Arts and Craft Movement.   Lengths of the handprinted wallpaper the group made together are on display.