The Australian Design Centre's Object Shop in Sydney's Darlinghurst has been in operation for the past decade and sold the work of an estimated 600 artists over that time.
The shop will close by March 28, with the entire design centre to shut down by the end of June following a $350,000 shortfall in state and federal government funding.
At an event with dozens of artists on Friday, the centre's chief executive and artistic director Lisa Cahill said she was sad and disappointed.
"I feel heartbroken that we're not able to continue because I know there is an enormous amount of support in the community for craft and design practice," she said.Â
Continued talks with governments had so far failed to reinstate any funding, Cahill said.
"We've continued to do that over the last six months and to this point, there's been nothing which would reverse our situation," she said.
The situation is another example of a successful Australian arts establishment not being supported, according to ceramicist Mavis Chan.
"If we don't put some things towards culture and art, I just feel that as a community and as humans, our cultural sense will be quite diluted," she said.
Chan first sold work with the design centre at its Sydney World Pride market in 2023 and then began selling her pottery through the Object Shop.
She juggles her ceramics business with a full time job in the technology sector and says developments such as artificial intelligence mean society must invest in human culture.
"The last thing we want is more machines and just lacking any cultural identity as a community," she said.
The closure will leave NSW as the only state without an organisation dedicated to craft and design.
In recent months the Object Shop, which first opened in 2016, has declined to take its usual sales commission and has diverted all sales income to artists.
About 150 artists are represented in the shop at any one time and the space has also been used for exhibitions.
The design centre in Sydney has been in operation since 1964.
It has hosted numerous touring exhibitions and a local schedule of 18 events annually.
The Object Shop closes on March 28.
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