Winner of the Brookfield Properties Craft Award 2026

Now in its seventh year, the Brookfield Properties Craft Award has evolved into a new and more sustainable model of support, presenting two major exhibitions that champion both artistic ambition and the wider contemporary craft ecosystem.

As a long-standing partner of Collect Art Fair and the Crafts Council Collection, Brookfield Properties will announce the winner of the Brookfield Properties Craft Award in February 2026. The award now supports the presentation of a solo exhibition by an artist at Collect 2026, alongside a curated exhibition drawn from the UK’s national collection of contemporary craft.

Exhibitions

The solo exhibition, ‘(Extra)ordinary’, opening on 30th March 2026 and accessible 7 days a week at 99 Bishopsgate, showcases Darcey Fleming’s striking series of sculptures. Each piece is a vibrant, wall-hung weave made from discarded baling twine, transformed through Fleming’s distinctive process into vivid, tactile forms. Uniform in scale and evenly spaced, the works create a rhythmic visual flow across the reception, while each sculpture offers its own contrast - twine is pulled into tightly controlled structures before releasing into cascading strands. This interplay between order and release, amplified by Fleming’s bold use of colour, creates a dynamic installation that brings a compelling creative energy to the corporate setting of 99 Bishopsgate’s reception.

Alongside Fleming’s solo show, a second curated exhibition at nearby 30 Fenchurch Street titled ‘Material Acts: Artifacts of Performance from the Craft Council Collection’ will run from 20th April – 28th August 2026. ‘Material Acts’ will bring together works from the National Craft Collection that emerge through performance, bodily action, and lived experience. Across textiles, jewellery, ceramics, film, and installation, the artists presented treat craft not as a static outcome but as something activated by the body - worn, touched, endured, inhabited, and transformed through movement and time. Together, these works position craft as an active, temporal practice, one that unfolds through the body and leaves behind material traces of movement, sensation, and lived experience. Featured artists include Pierre Degen, Caroline Broadhead, Shawanda Corbett, Kate Owens, Esna Su and more.

Both exhibitions will be collaboratively curated by Brookfield Properties, and Deborah Ridley, Collections Manager at the Crafts Council.

Previously, the Brookfield Properties Craft Award functioned as an acquisition prize, the award has now excitingly evolved into an exhibition-led model, comprising s solo presentation at 99 Bishopsgate, encouraging ambitious, large-scale, site-responsive work and a co-curated exhibition from the Crafts Council Collection at 30 Fenchurch Street.

The prize enables artists to retain ownership of their work while supporting sustainability, flexibility, and long-term impact. It also ensures continued benefit to galleries, the Crafts Council, and audiences, reinforcing Brookfield Properties’ commitment to supporting contemporary craft.

About Darcey Fleming

Darcey Fleming is an artist working across sculpture, photography, video, and performance. The body is often present or implied within her work, with traditional techniques and the use of discarded or humble materials central to her practice. Fleming’s work balances an obsessive drive to make with moments of resistance, humour, and celebration.

She has exhibited widely in London and internationally, including at Saatchi Gallery, The Royal Academy of Arts, MK Gallery, and Design Museum x Shenzhen Culture Square in China. Her work is held in collections including Selfridges and Tim Marlow OBE, and she has been commissioned by Soho House, Porsche, The Royal Society of Sculptors, W Magazine, Saatchi Gallery, and the Pirelli Calendar. Most recently, she was commissioned by Kate Bryan to create the largest work in the Soho Farmhouse art collection.

Fleming’s work has appeared in publications including W Magazine, Luncheon, Acne Papers, Vogue Scandinavia, Vogue Portugal, Harper’s Bazaar, Plaster, EXIT Magazine (cover), and i-D. Alongside her practice, she holds a degree in Social Sciences from UCL and is currently completing an MSc at the London School of Economics.