Gift ideas? New designs and handmade crafts feature at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen's Christmas exhibition.

The Devon Guild gallery is showcasing beautiful, distinctive craft work by over 60 makers in its popular Christmas selling exhibition, ‘MAKE’. Over a third of exhibitors are South West based, while artists from London and other regions are selected to input new design ideas with their latest creations. It’s well worth visiting Bovey Tracey to choose from the craft gallery’s wide range of affordable and luxury gifts by designers such as Jane Cox (ceramics), and Corrine Lapierre (hand-felted bootees).

Showing until 2 January, ‘MAKE’ is offering seasonal shoppers a unique experience away from the traffic and crowds of busy town centres. The Devon Guild also has a huge craft shop stocked with domestic and wearable products by local makers: hand-thrown tableware, socks, trinkets, purses and scarves as well as ‘how to’ craft books, cards and wrapping. This gives buyers the option to avoid a Christmas of costly technologies and commercial batchmade products. Instead there is an investment in local craftspeople committed to making high quality work in small studios with specialist tools and individual skills.

Buying your seasonal wares from a Guild such as this - which also provides locally sourced café food and Fair Trade goods - is a way of supporting smaller creative businesses, for example, Rachel Foxwell’s vibrantly coloured pots or Janine Partington’s increasingly collectable decorative enamels. There is something very special for everyone here - from hand printed and woven textile cushions and bags, unusual hand-made necklacesand rings, to functional metal and wood items (prices from £5).

The exhibition runs from Saturday 12 November to Monday 2 January 2012, but will be closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day (and from 3pm Christmas Eve).

For more information and an online gift selection visit: www.crafts.org.uk

Tel: 01626 8322233