Corn Craft marks the first creative collaboration between Gallery FUMI and Studio Toogood. Taking inspiration from crafts found in traditional folk culture, these two visionary houses of art and design are staging a contemporary installation based around the sustainable and natural material – corn. Under the creative direction of interior stylist Faye Toogood, the harvest festival will include unique and one-off pieces by Nacho Carbonell and Raw Edges Design Studio as well as an installation by textile sculptor Rowan Mersh. Gallery FUMI have opened their private residence in Hoxton Square to showcase this event.

Corn Craft aims to elevate the agrarian through design intervention, transforming grain from inexpensive raw material to refined design. In a bid to revive forgotten folk craft, a select group of contemporary designers were asked to capture the beauty of corn in its various forms. The result is this collection of one-off, site-specific pieces that aim to celebrate its value as a design material and its potential power for sustainability.

A long table by Raw-Edges Design Studio has been designed to mimic a cornfield, made of bearded wheat, oats and barley stalks, and set in old wooden display cabinets. This is showcased alongside Crop, a collection of one-off pieces by Naco Carbonell, and a site-specific installation of hanging, garland-like strands of wheat by Rowan Mersh.

To launch the exhibition, Gallery Fumi and Studio Toogood staged a conceptual dining event based on the Pagan festival of thanks, the Harvest Festival. The Modern Pantry recast corn in a literal and an abstract way, creating an experimenatl menu of corn-based recipes served by waiters dressed in corn dolly-inspired adornments. Each guest left with a bespoke crystal and tumbler detailed with engravings by Max Lamb and Gemma Holt for Lobmeyr.

Gallery Fumi, 16 Hoxton Square, Second Floor Flat