Ernest Gimson has been described as ‘the greatest of the Englishartist-craftsmen’; he and the brothers Ernest and Sidney Barnsley werecentral to the British Arts and Crafts Movement. In 1894 they made theradical and romantic move from London and Birmingham to the southCotswolds, then a relatively unknown part of the country. Their work as architects, designers and makers gained them recognition worldwideand their example attracted a succession of designer-makers, includingAlfred and Louise Powell and William Simmonds to the area throughthe 20th century and beyond.

As a curator at Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum (now The Wilson), Mary Greensted wasinstrumental in building up the nationally important Arts & Crafts Movement collection.She has been involved in organising exhibitions nationwide and has written widely, mostrecently “The Arts & Crafts Movement in Britain” (Shire 2010) and “Ernest Gimson: Arts &Crafts Designer and Architect” (with Annette Carruthers and Barley Roscoe, Yale 2019). Sheis a trustee at Court Barn, the museum of craft and design in the north Cotswolds, and apatron of the Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen.