Making Spaces Committee

Deborah Pocock, CEO, QEST

Deborah has been the CEO of QEST since 2018, and immediately prior to that the Development Director of the Royal Warrant Holders Association for 5 years.  Deborah is passionate about ensuring that regardless of background or circumstance everyone should have the opportunity and access to training in order to be able pursue a career as a professional maker, whether as a sole-trader or within industry.

Since QEST was founded in 1990, supporting the continuation and development of craft skills - and contributing to the thriving and valuable future of the UK craft industry - have been the core functions of the charity. Whilst we will continue to support more established makers through the Scholarship Programme, it is essential that we provide opportunity, inspiration and support to the next generation of professional makers so that they, in turn, can have fulfilling and creative careers, whatever their background or circumstance, whilst pushing the boundaries of materials and techniques ensuring that craft is relevant for the 21st century and beyond.  

Joshua Hudson, Furniture Lead, Rycotewood Furniture Center

Josh Hudson heads up Rycotewood Furniture Center, within his role he develops and oversees the faculty on a day-to-day basis, engaging with students on all course levels and staying in contact with Rycotewood’s industry partners. 

He teaches Rycotewood’s prestigious furniture manufacture apprenticeship programme using his vast industry knowledge and previous endeavours of taking his own apprentices to national final recognition to develop future industry makers.  

After graduating from Rycotewood in 2001, he spent many years honing his skills within different timber industries. He then built an established business with his good friend over 15 years, specializing in high end internal cabinetry and heritage joinery working with high profile interior designers, architects, and private clients.

Kerryn Harper-Cuss, Freelance Editor & Content Director

Respected interiors journalist Kerryn Harper-Cuss is a long-term advocate of British and indigenous craftsmanship as well as sustainable design. She has championed the stories of makers and the importance of heritage skills for more than 20 years, not only through her editorship of The English Home and House Beautiful magazines, but now as a freelance content creator and in her ambassadorial role with the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. 

At Decorex she regularly moderates seminars with erudite panels and was also sole judge of the Best in British Craftsmanship Award for nine years. 

Sarah Myerscough, CEO, The New Craftsmen

As CEO of The New Craftsmen since November 2023, Sarah Myerscough brings a new creative vision to the strategic development of the brand, as a platform for genuine and meaningful craft, playfully imagined and properly made by artisans of the British Isles. 

Sarah founded her eponymous gallery in 1998. At Sarah Myerscough Gallery, she represents a distinguished group of contemporary craft and design artists, whose practices are grounded in craft-making traditions but defined by contemporary innovation and invention. Through diverse making processes, they collectively embrace the complex intersections between history and future; hand and technology; form and function. Sarah’s position on the board of trustees for Cockpit Arts, since 2016, is representative of how she has become a key figurehead in the world of luxury craft and design.

Jonathan Burton, CEO, Cockpit

Jonathan Burton is the CEO of Cockpit, a centre of excellence in contemporary craft and the UK’s only incubator for craft businesses. He has been immersed in the arts throughout his career, working across opera, fine art, and craft.

He began his career leading the marketing teams at English National Opera and then Tate. At Tate he oversaw campaigns for Olafur Eliasson’s ‘The Weather Project’, the Bridget Riley and Barnet Newman retrospectives, and the Tate & Egg Live series of cross-artform collaborations, among others.

During his eight years as Director of London Art Fair he launched several new initiatives including the annual Photo50 exhibition and the museum partnership strategy that included The Hepworth Wakefield, Pallant House, and The Lightbox galleries.

As Managing Director of London Craft Week, he oversaw the creative development and growth of the festival, presenting artist-makers from 40 countries and doubling visitor numbers.