Cumbria crystal glass cutters warn heritage crafts may vanish
A company which has made crystal glasses for James Bond films has warned heritage crafts are "at a crossroads".Cut crystal glass-making was added to the Heritage Crafts charity's list of critically endangered skills in the UK earlier this week.Chris Blade, the CEO of Cumbria Crystal, said the Ulverston-based company's bills had increased by 280% since November because of rising energy costs.He also warned a skills shortage meant there was "very little chance" of the skills being passed on to the next generation, and said: "The time to act is now, before these irreplaceable elements of our culture vanish forever."
The Red List of Endangered Crafts was first created in 2017 to raise awareness of disappearing traditional skills in the UK.Cut crystal glass-making was one of 12 new crafts, including quilting in a frame and rattan furniture, added to the critically endangered category.Heritage Crafts estimated there were only seven to 15 professional crystal glass-cutters in the UK.
The craft involves shaping, cutting, and polishing glass to create intricate designs.As a result of the increased energy bills, Cumbria Crystal, which has supplied wares for productions of Downton Abbey and James Bond, has had to turn off one of their two glass furnaces."The costs were so high that we couldn't continue," Mr Blade told BBC Radio Cumbria."We are now running at 50% capacity, which is a challenge for us because our pieces are all handmade by craftspeople."Mr Blade also said training new staff to join their 22-strong workforce was "extremely difficult" and took them three to five years.He called for apprenticeship funding for the industry, saying it would "signal a national commitment to heritage preservation".A spokesperson for the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education said: "It's important that we support future generations through quality skills training."Apprenticeships, developed with employers, were available to train thatchers, stonemasons, and specialist craft painters and decorators, bricklayers, and plasterers, the spokesperson added.
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