The Renaissance Institute Part 1 Project 2022 Samuel Henry Jarman University of Sheffield | UK A new branch of the Craft’s Council designed to increase the popularity of craft by highlighting its importance to other fields such as scientific innovation. Stoke-on-Trent was once a powerhouse of ceramic industrialisation and innovation, peppered with coal-powered kilns and connected to the world via canal. The potteries have since closed, disconnecting Stoke from the UK and leaving it feeling subdued. Although craft now carries distaste amongst Stoke locals, allowing it to fade would be a mistake because it imparts irreplaceable haptic skills that, in a world increasingly influenced by alienating technology, provide us with spatial reasoning and a tacit connection to the world. Through a retrofit of buildings attached to the disused pottery, Spode Works, the new branch provides a place for modern renaissance men and women to meet, share, learn and innovate, highlighting the important link between art and science. This collaboration will draw visitors to Stoke-on-Trent reconnecting it with the rest of the UK and putting it at the centre for craft once again, in a new innovative way. Tutor(s) Leonora Aigbokhae