Novus + QEST + Craft Festival Wales 2025
22nd August 2025
QEST have been working collaboratively with prison education providers Novus Gower, Novus Cambria and Craft Festival Wales to champion the craft sector as a route into employment for prison learners. Over the summer, learners at HMP Berwyn and HMP Parc took part in a creative project exploring meaningful pathways into craft careers.Â
Working across both Art and English classes, learners were encouraged to explore a wide range of themes, from myth and legend to historical figures and the Welsh landscape. Resonating with the rich, narrative work of Welsh illustrator Clive Hicks-Jenkins, the project promotes storytelling through craft, inviting participants to reflect on heritage, identity and place.
This exciting initiative gave prison learners the opportunity to respond to a live creative brief, working with QEST Scholars including Scholar Justyna Medon. Founder of Addicted to Patterns, Justyna is a surface designer specialising in custom hand-printed wall hangings, textiles and artefacts.
The learners produced artifacts, and written work, all with a focus on hand-made processes which will be displayed during Craft Festival Wales at Cardigan Castle from 5–7 September and continuing until 21 September.
The collaboration reflects the broader ethos of Craft Festival Wales: to celebrate creativity, champion community participation and highlight the transformative potential of making.
