Emma Burns in conversation with Sally Hampson, Yunus Ascott and Eliza Higginbottom

Curator&Maker presents two of this collection’s makers, rug dyer and weaver Sally Hampson and sculpture and jewellery creators Yunus and Eliza, in conversation with Managing Director of Sibyl Colefax and John Fowler Emma Burns as part of its Christmas 2026 edition, ‘Golden Gifts for all: Laurie Lee’s Cotswold Christmas’, featuring the work of 19 British designers and makers.

The collection is inspired by the memories of a traditional Cotswold Christmas and features a range of works from some of the UK’s leading designers and makers, all hand-made and locally sourced.

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Sally Hampson, artist and weaver, has led an exciting and eclectic life with textiles, from setting up a design studio in Paris, working with interior designers and architects in London, to collaborations on theatre projects for sets and costume in Cairo and working on projects with Bedouin women in Egypt, artisans in Ethiopia and makers in Kenya.

As well as her own practice, she has been a visiting lecturer at Central St Martins, Goldsmiths College of Art and the Royal College of Art, where she herself graduated with an MA in weaving, and has recently set up Stroud School of Weaving, running weaving workshops.

A voracious traveller, she transforms her own journeys to the wild landscapes of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland and Ireland into unique woven textile pieces in collaboration with bespoke mills in Scotland and Yorkshire, using wool from indigenous sheep, creating woven pieces that represent the land and materials of the place.

Designers, sculpture and metalwork collaborators Yunus Ascott and Eliza Higginbottom create specialist metal sculptures within the jewellery, fashion, interior design, music, film and art worlds. Their creative partnership has gone on to become one of the most in demand and respected in the industry.

Working from their own casting foundry in West Oxfordshire, they design and create bespoke sculptures and jewellery which has featured in globally renowned film and TV shows like Game of Thrones to individually commissioned made-to-order pieces. Specializing in hand-carved sculptural metal work they combine masterful craftsmanship with rebellious luxury design.

Emma Burns is Managing Director of Sibyl Colefax and John Fowler’s Interior Decoration and Design division. Having worked at the firm for over 40 years, she is one of the leading lights in the international world of interior design and decoration. ‘Interiors should enhance the lives and sensibilities of those who live there, reflecting their taste in fashion, art and books,’ she says. ‘I can’t bear impersonal interiors.’

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£10 All proceeds in aid of Pancreatic Cancer UK

Description supplied by the event organiser.