Orelans House Gallery

Eleanor Pritchard’s commission for the national Museumaker project, which has linked contemporary makers with 16 museums and historic houses (including four in the London area), inviting them to draw inspiration from the venue and its collections. Pritchard is a weaver whose work is inspired by traditional British fabrics. For ‘ Place Setting’ she drew on plasterwork, sugarwork, blackwork (an embroidery technique) and damask to create a six-metre banqueting table set for a fantasy guest list that spans four centuries. Decorative paper quilling reflects the plasterwork ceilings above the table, which is constructed from archive boxes, and individually embroidered napkins explore the histories of residents of Orleans House and two neighbouring historic Thameside houses, Ham House and Strawberry Hill. The other London venues involved in Museumaker are Valentine’s Mansion (from July19) , The Women’s Library (from Oct 28) and the Geffrye Museum (from Sept 6).