Cockpit Arts is London’s social enterprise supporting makers and designers. It began in 1986 as a cluster of five workshops in Cockpit Yard, Holborn, offering studio space to unemployed people looking to start craft businesses. Today, it supports more than 140 makers, designers and creative enterprises across its two sites in Holborn and Deptford. Much more than just a provider of workspace, Cockpit Arts is the UK’s only business incubator dedicated to making, providing essential support and professional expertise to diverse makers across a broad spectrum of disciplines – many of whom are now acknowledged as leaders in their fields. Its twice-yearly Open Studios, introduced in 1988, are now among the most important events on the London crafts calendar, offering the public an opportunity to step behind the scenes, meet the makers and buy – or commission – direct from the studios. As well as championing its own makers, Cockpit is a staunch campaigner for the crafts sector as a whole, frequently consulting and collaborating with other creative enterprise and incubation programmes, including the British Council. In 2019, Cockpit Arts was listed in the NatWest SE100 index of top UK social enterprises.
We’ve been fans of Cockpit Arts army of brilliant makers for many years, and we worked with Cockpit’s CEO Annie Warburton back when she was Creative Director at the Crafts Council, so we were thrilled at the chance to support them at a time when many makers are taking a pandemic-induced hit to their livelihoods. We’re working with the Cockpit crew to help them adapt their approach so they can survive and thrive in a post-Covid world.
cockpitarts.com