Our Origins

In 1984 the Paice Family created the Trust (formally the ISA Charity). Travel, a family passion, was its original focus, but with time it has widened its vision and activities to include projects that support dyslexia provision in schools, social enterprise scheme for ex-offenders and international development programmes.

In 2014, the Trust celebrated its thirtieth anniversary and decided to establish a new foundation, Artisa, as an incubator for creative and professional development in the visual arts: artisa.org.uk.

Our Team

Richard Paice

Founder

Richard is a passionate explorer of ideas and places. This appetite for new experiences took him to Iceland as a Queen Scout and Heidelberg University for a year, before he read Chemistry at Oxford. Following an MBA at Insead he hitchhiked through Africa joining his father’s business on his return. For 40 years he grew I.S.A. (Holdings), with a global network of offices from Hong Kong to Brazil. In 2004 he passed on the business to focus on other interests – furniture, architecture and contemporary craft. He has been the Chairman of both the Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsman and the Gordon Russell Design Museum; Master of the Patternmaker’s Livery and President of the Footwear Friends Charity. He holds an honorary degree from Oxford Brookes and he is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Adriana Paice 

Director 

Adriana is a curator, artist and editor. She has created BAFTA nominated interactive sculptures for the London Stock Exchange and curated Thomas Heatherwick’s award-wining British Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai, as well as editing books on British design for Sir John Sorrell. Collaboration is at the heart of her practice. In her interactive textiles she has worked with poets, musicians and fashion designers, with her work presented in Paris and London. In addition to her personal practice she is a director of I.S.A. (Holdings) working on its new property portfolio. She holds an MA in Italian and History of Art from Edinburgh University and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Charlotte Grinling

Trustee

Charlotte is a designer, maker and educator. After studying fashion textiles at Central St Martins, she completed a MA at the Royal College of Art. She worked for a number of leading forecasting agencies before establishing her own company Design Direction, with a focus on design and colour forecasting for homewares. Clients included John Lewis Partnerships, Homebase, Next, M&S and House of Fraser amongst many others. For 18 years, alongside this work, Charlotte was also a key lecturer and professional practice co-ordinator at Goldsmiths College, University of London, inspiring a generation of designers. In 2013, she returned to her roots as a designer maker, honing her skills as a ceramicist. She now has a thriving practice, selling her work across the UK and Scandinavia. She has been awarded a Fellowship in Teaching and Learning at Goldsmiths College and the Peake Award for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching.

Community

We work with individuals through a select group of institutions where we run awards and initiatives. Often, with an institution we identify where there is an opportunity to foster personal and professional development within their community. We pilot ideas that develop into larger initiatives. Occasionally we fund existing programmes.