Spring 2026 QEST Scholarship
We're delighted to share that Gather founder and lead glassmaker Phoebe Stubbs has been awarded a Spring 2026 Scholarship from QEST, the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust.
QEST supports exceptional craftspeople across the UK to learn from masters, develop specialist skills, and help ensure traditional and contemporary craft practices continue to thrive.
Phoebe is one of 26 makers awarded grants this spring, across disciplines including glasswork, embroidery, stonemasonry conservation, letterpress printing, and more.
Phoebe's scholarship will support specialist training in Venetian chandelier making, taking her to Murano to learn directly from master makers working within one of the world's most celebrated glassmaking traditions.
For Gather, this marks the beginning of a new chapter in our lighting practice. From our South East London hotshop, we have been steadily developing bespoke handblown lighting alongside our glassware collections - pendants, shades, and collaborative commissions for residential and hospitality interiors. Our first table lamps are launching soon, and the longer ambition has always been chandeliers: large-scale, handcrafted, made here in London.
The training Phoebe undertakes in Murano will feed directly back into the studio - deepening our technical capabilities, informing future lighting commissions, and strengthening the craftsmanship at the heart of everything we make.
Phoebe will be documenting the experience through her Substack - the workshops, the makers she learns from, and the techniques behind Venetian chandelier making. It's well worth following for anyone interested in the process behind contemporary handblown glass and decorative lighting.