“High Tops, Knobs, Birdseyes and Mites” celebrating 400 years of Dorset Button

An exhibition of contemporary art inspired by Dorset Buttons, its history, the people and the villages, towns and countryside are one of a number of events planned to celebrate 400 years.
The Dorset Button industry was a major part of many people’s lives in east Dorset for 200 years. Abraham Case stated making buttons in the 1620s after settling in Shaftesbury. The business was to remain in the same family until its demise in the 1800s when handmade buttons were replaced by machines.