Latest news with #HeritageCrafts
BBC News
26-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Clog making and roof thatching - the people behind craft jobs at risk
Ever fancied a career weaving baskets, making helmets or building rattan furniture?Those are some of the crafts that are falling out of favour, making it on to a list of endangered by Heritage Crafts, a charity which supports and promote traditional crafts, has identified 20 more crafts at risk of vanishing from the UK. Research found that rising operational costs, a lack of structured training, and mounting market pressures are placing unsustainable strain on crafts that depend on expert hand skills. Crafts such as cut crystal glass making and fabric flower making are just some that have been classified as "critically endangered".This means there is a shrinking base of craftspeople, limited training opportunities, low financial viability or there is no mechanism to pass on the skills and craft that was added to the list this year is thatching, both Welsh and Irish vernacular. Master thatcher Alan Jones and believes continuing the craft is important if people want to live a sustainable lifestyle. He said: "In these days of high tech, people appreciate hand made because someone has put their heart and soul into it. Quite literally and that's valuable. "It's valuable because of heritage, it's a part of our story and where we came from and how we got to where we are as a society and part of a timeline for keeping the traditions going. "Mass product isn't necessarily better. Hand made has a bit of heart to it."Priya Pannochia has been working with Alan as an apprentice and believes her generation is "less and less interested in these old crafts". She said: "A lot of these ways we are learning here is very natural in other parts of the world. "It feels more to me like living in harmony with nature and knowing how to do things for ourselves. "If one day I need to know how to make a fire, I know how to make one. If I needed to build a shelter, I know how to build one. "So I feel that this is very important in general to remember these old ways and the crafts involved." Some crafts classed as endangered include:Armour and helmet making Flax, hemp and nettle processingHazel basketmaking Lace making Lute makingOrgan building Quilting (in a frame)Welsh double cloth weavingCut crystal glass makingFabric flower making Glove makingRake makingRattan furniture makingThatching Clog making, which sees the clogs made by hand, has also been classified as critically endangered. Geraint Parfitt, one of only two makers in Britain who still creates clogs entirely by hand in his workshop at the National Museum of Wales, St Fagans, said he's happy there is recognition that these skills are being lost, but "it's sad that the list has to exist in the first place".As the clogs are made to measure, Geraint draws around the person's feet. "I then use a stump of straw and I cut it whole in my hand using three knives and then I do all the leather work, cut it and sew it by hand. "People come back for an extra fitting to make sure everything is right and then I put them together and that's it. Simple," he said it could take up to 10 hours of his working time but it can take up to six months before the clogs are ready due to working in the museum and speaking to the public. "I do think people are starting to appreciate the old form but the challenge is to make a living out of it because people are not willing to pay for the time it takes to do these things," he said."They are willing to pay £50 an hour for their car to be fixed but not for me to make their shoes."Daniel Carpenter from Heritage Crafts said the list underscores the need for investment and support to safeguard skills for the next generation. "Reversing this decline would represent not just the continuation of skilled trades, but also a significant boost to the UK's cultural heritage and countless opportunities for future innovation," he said.
Times
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Inside the workshops where Britain's rarest crafts still survive
On a trip to Florence, as those around him gazed up at the paintings, Thomas Greenaway was staring at the floor. The marble-inlaid floors and tabletops were his first introduction to the art of pietra dura, 'painting in stone', a craft so rare he is now the only professional in the UK who still practises it. Greenaway is one of the artists highlighted by the Heritage Crafts red list, which tracks skills at risk of extinction in the UK. While some still have a few dozen practitioners, a select few 'critically endangered' crafts such as pietra dura are down to their final maker. After returning inspired from Florence, Greenaway found the skill had entirely disappeared from the UK. With no tutors here, he spent
Daily Mail
13-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Roof thatching and rattan furniture making are among 70 'critically endangered' British crafts at risk of dying out
Roof thatching, rattan furniture making and crystal glass cutting are among 70 'critically endangered' British crafts at risk of dying out. Heritage Crafts has issued the stark warning in its latest 'red list', which is now made up of 165 traditional skills and art forms with a concerning decline in specialists. This year, 20 more crafts - including forms of basket weaving, carpentry and jewellery making - have been thrown into the list of skills that are at risk of vanishing from the UK. Rising operational costs, a lack of structured training and mounting market pressures are placing an unsustainable strain of crafts, sparking fears dozens of crafts could disappear within a generation. Among the 12 additions to the 'critically endangered' category - meaning they are at serious risk of no longer being practised in the UK - are crystal glass cutting, rattan furniture making and Welsh and Irish methods of roof thatching. They join the list of 71 critically endangered crafts, including glove making, which has been reclassified as being in greater danger than when the research was last updated in 2023. Crafts added to the 'endangered' list - meaning they have sufficient craftspeople to transfer the skills to the next generation but are at risk in the future - include armour and helmet making, lace making and organ building. Fortunately, in the last two years, no crafts have become extinct in the UK and some have even been assigned 'resurgent' status - including mouth-blown flat glass which was thought to have been lost last year. Five of the skills dubbed 'locally extinct' were hand-stitching cricket balls, lacrosse stick making, gold beating and blowing glass sheets. Dukes Cricket Balls, the last cricket-ball maker in the UK, has stopped manufacturing in the UK over the past decade and now supplies raw materials to India, where the balls are fabricated before returning to Britain to be finished off. Daniel Carpenter, executive director of Heritage Crafts, warned more investment is needed to preserve traditional skills and prevent them from going extinct. He said: 'Reversing this decline would represent not just the continuation of skilled trades, but also a significant boost to the UK's cultural heritage and countless opportunities for future innovation.' Despite the mounting challenges, some traditional skills are making a resurgence. Elliot Walker, a glass artist who won the Netflix glass-blowing competition Blown Away, is leading the charge in bringing the skill back, producing the first blown-glass sheets in the UK for many years. The practice disappeared from the country when the Hartley Wood glass factory in Sunderland shut its doors in 1992, having previously made glass for Tiffany and cathedrals around the world. Elsewhere, rattan furniture weaving has been saved from extinction by interiors company Soane Britain, the only rattan workshop left. Soane, which Carrie Johnson hired to redecorate Downing Street when her husband Boris was PM, bought out the last workshop when it was plunged into administration and has increased the number of weavers through apprenticeships. Lulu Lytle, a company founder, told The Times: 'In terms of preserving rattan skills, centuries of development have gone into perfecting the specialist skills needed to make beautiful rattan furniture that will endure for generations, in stark contrast to the abundance of mass-produced rattan which will not last more than a few years.' She added: 'Only by passing skills on from generation to generation can we maintain a deep understanding of the rattan palm's capabilities and continue to push the boundaries of artisanship and innovate in a way that ensures we have a viable business today.' The 71 'critically endangered' British crafts Arrowsmithing Basketwork furniture making Bell founding Bow making (musical) Bowed felt hat making Chain making Clay pipe making Clog making Coiled straw basket making Copper wheel glass engraving Coppersmithing (objects) Currach making Cut crystal glass making (skilled trades & manufacture) Damask weaving (linen) Devon stave basket making Diamond cutting Encaustic tile making Engine turned engraving Fabric Flower Making (skilled trades & manufacture) Fabric pleating Fair Isle straw back chair making Fan making Figurehead and ship carving Flute making (concert) Fore edge painting Frame knitting Glass eye making Glove making Hand Quilting in a Frame Hat block making Hat plaiting Hazel basket making Highlands and Islands thatching Horse collar making Horsehair weaving Industrial pottery Linen Beetling Maille making Matte Painting Metal thread making Millwrighting Northern Isles basket making Orrery making Paper making (commercial handmade) Parchment and vellum making Piano making Pietra Dura (Pietre Dure) Plane making Plume making Pointe shoe making Rattan Furniture Making Saw making Scientific & optical instrument making Scissor making Sieve and riddle making Silk ribbon making Silver spinning Spade making (forged heads) Spinning wheel making Sporran making Straw hat making Sussex trug making Swill basket making Tanning (oak bark) Tinsmithing Wainwrighting Watch dial enamelling Watch making Welsh Vernacular Thatching Whip making (horse) Wooden fishing net making
The Guardian
13-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Welsh thatching and ship figurehead carving added to UK crafts red list
For many centuries the cities, towns and villages of the UK were enlivened and enriched by the sights and sounds of craftspeople creating beautiful – and useful – objects. But almost two dozen crafts, from Welsh thatching to ship figurehead carving, have been added to an already bulging 'red list' of skills considered under threat. According to the list, from the charity Heritage Crafts, the number on the 'critically endangered' list has risen from 62 to 72 in the last two years, while the 'endangered' list has gone from 84 to 93. But there is a glimmer of hope, with no new crafts becoming extinct since the last time the list was published two years ago, and there are some 'resurgent' crafts, including hazel basket making and side saddle making. Mary Lewis, who led the research, said rising operational costs, a lack of structured training and mounting market pressures were placing unsustainable strain on many crafts that depend on expert hand skills. She said that trades such as cut-crystal glassmaking, pewter working and organ building were becoming vulnerable. Among the new critically endangered crafts is Welsh vernacular thatching. The report says many thatched roofs in Wales are becoming 'more similar to English styles of thatch'. The Welsh style is different, with a rounder outside appearance. Another craft added to the critically endangered list is the carving of figureheads for ships. A few 'master carvers' remain but the report says there are no trainees. Some of the skills needed in silversmithing are also vanishing, the report says, with 'silver allied trades' added to the endangered category. Jackie Tear, the managing director of British Silverware in Sheffield, which makes objects ranging from cutlery to trophies, said people were keen to be silversmiths. 'But the issue is all the associated skill sets and trades that go with it are lost or being lost.' For example, Tear said, the number of people skilled in buffing – removing lines created in the manufacturing process to create a smooth surface – could be counted on one hand. Sign up to The Guide Get our weekly pop culture email, free in your inbox every Friday after newsletter promotion Tear said: 'There are lots of apprenticeship schemes at colleges but none of them are actually teaching the crafts. They're learning how to use a lathe but they're not learning how to use it for something like our industry because it's a very niche.' Among the resurgent crafts is pole lathe bowl turning. One practitioner, Sharif Adams, said: 'A pole lathe is one of the earliest sort of machines that humanity ever used. The Vikings used them to turn their cups and bowls.' 'As the bowl spins, the tool leaves a very fine groove, which is similar in some ways to the sort of texture on thrown pottery. And they don't shine in the same way as machined bowls. They look more earthy, more rustic.' The technique produces a beautifully textured bowl. By the mid-20th century pole lathe bowl turning had died out but a small number of enthusiasts revived it. 'I took photographs of lathes and built one and then connected through the green wood working forums with a few other people trying to do the same thing,' Adams said. He passes on his knowledge and there is an annual festival called the Bowl Gathering. 'It's a really lovely thing to do. There's so many emotional and physical wellbeing benefits from woodturning in this way. It connects you with nature and connects you with community of lovely people.'
The Guardian
20-03-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘Every stone tells a story': Cornish hedge labyrinth opens on Bodmin Moor
It is an intriguing piece of land art, a hymn to the almost-lost craft of Cornish hedging and also – perhaps – an optimistic message from the early 21st century to future generations. As the sun rose over Bodmin Moor on spring equinox morning, a Cornish bagpipe struck up and Kerdroya, five years in the making and built to last four millennia, was officially opened. The work, 56m in diameter, is a labyrinth made of Cornish hedges (unique structures made of stone and turf) commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of Cornwall's landscapes being given official protection. Will Coleman, the bagpiper and labyrinth creator, was feeling exhilarated as the spring sunshine began to warm Kerdroya – a Cornish word that can be translated as Castle of Turnings – and the first visitors arrived. 'It's been hard work but really worth it. I'm delighted we're finally open. Every stone here tells a story.' That makes a lot of stories. More than 140,000 stones have been laid to create half a kilometre of winding hedging. A thousand volunteers and 5,000 schoolchildren have helped build it and more than 150 people have received training in the craft of hedging, which is rated as 'endangered' by the charity Heritage Crafts. Coleman led the Guardian around the labyrinth on the banks of Colliford Lake, pointing out the different types of stone and techniques used to lay them. There is not just one sort of Cornish hedge: different areas have their distinctive styles dictated by the type of stone and local building traditions. 'The first important thing to say is that in Cornwall, a hedge is not a row of fluffy green bushes,' Coleman said. 'That's a hedgerow. A hedge in Cornwall means a stone-built structure. You have a rammed earth core and two faces of stone. 'A really important aspect is the batter [the receding slope of the wall]. So if you look from the end, you'll actually see it's got a curve like a lighthouse or oak tree. 'The other thing is the stone to stone contact. Every one of these stones is making contact with the ones around it, top, bottom, side to side. You should not be able to wobble a single stone. Every single stone is wedged in.' When built correctly, Cornish hedges last a very long time, with some believed to be 4,000 years old, making them one of the oldest human-made structures still used for their original purpose. Many of the grounders, the base stones, for Kerdroya were hauled out of the lake during a drought and moved to the labyrinth by horse and sledge. There are grey, hulking granite stones from Bodmin Moor in the structure, but also more delicate, lighter-coloured ones brought in from other parts of Cornwall such as serpentine from the Lizard, mainland Britain's most southerly point. One section is made using a technique called 'lyverva' (Cornish for a library), with the stones resembling books neatly lined up on shelves. Another, featuring long ranks of similar sized stones, is the result of a method known as 'little soldiers'. The hedges are topped with turf – tubbins – which even this early in the season is alive with wild flowers. 'Because of the shape of the labyrinth, you've got every different possibility of shade, sun, exposure, shelter, wet, dry, and everything in between. So every little flower has got something they like,' Coleman said. Scores of people, from Cornwall and from across the world, have donated to the labyrinth, with contributions paying for a yard of wall and commemorated with small plaques. The messages on them are hopeful, thoughtful. 'A yard of wishes, a hedge of hope for my Cornish grandchildren,' says one. 'Life is not just a problem to be solved but a path to be explored,' says another. And at the centre is a piece of art by local father and son team Gary and Thomas Thrussell. It is their take on the labyrinth, made of copper and marine grade stainless steel. The labyrinth is not quite finished. Asked when it would be completed, Coleman replied (only half jokingly): 'I think it probably only needs another 100 years to get to a place where I'd feel happy, and then after that you need about 4,000 years to mature. This project is about the long now.' Coleman said that digital records of what humans are up to may vanish in disasters to come – but the labyrinth would probably last. 'In a few hundred years time, somebody might come visit this site and get the notion that some of us actually cared. So this is not really intended for us, it's intended for those yet to be born.' Kerdroya is situated at Colliford Lake, St Neot, PL14 6PZ. Entrance is free.
