News

The Worshipful Company of Turners' competitions, which were postponed from October 2020, will now go ahead at Carpenters’ Hall in the City of London on 12 October 2021. Emerging from over a year of pandemic and lockdowns, this event will be a beacon of hope for woodturners and woodturning enthusiasts alike. 

With categories for all levels of interest, skill and turning speciality, including plenty for young turners in schools and colleges, it is the largest of its kind in Europe with entries from the UK and abroad.

All entries registered with the Turners’ Company by Monday 4 October and received by Monday 11 October will be exhibited as part of Wizardry in Wood, the Company’s major exhibition attracting over 2,000 visitors, which will take place from 13-16 October. Competition entries can be offered for sale as part of the ‘Love View Buy’ theme. Held every four years, up until the 2020 pandemic, Wizardry in Wood was launched by the Turners’ Company in 2004 on the 400th anniversary of the granting of the Company’s Royal Charter in 1604.

Melissa Scott, Master of the Turners’ Company, said: “The Turners’ Company Competitions are now firmly embedded in the turning community’s calendar, and we’re excited to provide a platform that reveals the very best in contemporary turning as well as an opportunity for turners new to the craft. Simply by entering, their work will be seen by turners, art lovers and the curious public who decide to come to Wizardry in Wood and be amazed at our time-honoured craft.”

How to enter the Competitions

The Competitions are run in association with the AWBG (Association of Woodturners of Great Britain), the Association of Pole-Lathe Turners and Green Woodworkers, and the Society of Ornamental Turners. Full details can be found here. There are 13 categories, including those requiring special turning techniques, such as combining two species of wood, or special themes such as creating a piece depicting ‘Music’. There are categories for young turners, and several where you can just enter whatever you like. The top prizes are worth over £1,000, along with sponsors’ prizes of tools. 

Wizardry in Wood 2021

Some of the UK’s leading turners will be exhibiting including Sally Burnett, Margaret Garrard, Mick Hanbury, Louise Hibbert, Simon Hope, Phil Irons, Tobias Kaye, Richard Kennedy, Carlyn Lindsay, Stuart Mortimer, Gary Rance, Joey Richardson, Mark Sanger and our monthly turning author, Les Thorne.
In addition, there will be exhibitions of 400 years of turning in music, turning in magic and pre-historic turning, as well as curated talks on specialist turning subjects. There will be demonstrations of plain turning, ornamental turning and pole-lathe turning, and all entries to the Company's 2021 Competitions will be on display. The AWGB will display its travelling exhibition, and the Register of Professional Turners' (RPT) stand will include a retrospective of the work of Master Turner, Ray Key. To find out more about Wizardry in Wood, click here.