08-05-2025
The artisans using social media to keep ancient British skills alive
Heritage crafts are often categorised as a luxury. But they're more than that. Whether it's a jeweller, carver, glassblower or bookbinder, each craft is a way of connecting us with each other, with our history and with what ultimately makes us human.
This month, in the biggest craft fair ever held in our capital, makers from around the world will be showcasing their crafts through demonstrations, exhibitions and workshops. There will also be an exhibition by Future Icons — heirloom makers from the next generation.
Here we meet four individuals who have dedicated themselves to making covetable, one-off items that are both beautiful and useful, using ancient techniques like spinning, bookbinding, forging, furniture-making and weaving. Their products are not the only source of wonder — so are their skills.
Holly Loftus is a culinary knife-maker. She enjoys the utility and everyday nature of knives, but the knives she creates are extraordinary. 'I care about them. I want them to be better than anything else you can buy off the shelf,' she says.
Loftus spent eight years figuring out the geometry needed to make high-performance tools beautiful too. Her way into her practice was via a City & Guilds qualification in forgework at Scotland's Rural College SRUC. Having learnt to swing a hammer 'with some accuracy', she went on to spend three years at Blenheim Forge in Peckham, then set up on her own in 2020 thanks to the Newby Trust Craft Excellence award, which gave her a subsidised studio for one year.
She uses steels from Sheffield and Japan and locally sourced timber such as cherry plum (her current favourite). Every blade starts with a process of layering steels with heat and a hammer. The layered steel is heated to over 1000C, then hammered on her anvil, 'adding length, width and a taper until it becomes the right proportions for a culinary knife. From there each blade goes through a process of heating and cooling to make it strong and hard so it will hold a great edge. Then I thin it for cutting performance and make a handle. For a finish I sharpen it by hand on whetstones.'
Loftus is a one-woman business, so is limited in how many knives she can make. Instead of operating a waiting list, she sells her knives in what she calls a 'fastest fingers first' basis through her email newsletter. 'I think keeping the old skills alive keeps the questions open — have we made the world we want and what future might it produce? It's important to keep that fire lit.'
Richard Platt and Sam Cooper are the founders of the Marchmont Workshop, based on the Marchmont Estate on the Scottish Borders. Other than their mentor, Lawrence Neal, who still makes chairs in his own small workshop, they are the last rush-seated chair-makers in the UK. Their craft has been practised for centuries — Platt tells me that a rush-seated chair was found in an ancient Egyptian tomb and the craft has been practised in England since the 14th century.
The designers apprenticed with Neal, whose father and grandfather made rush-seated chairs in a long tradition that started with Ernest Gimson and Phillip Clissitt before him. Gimson designed the Bedales chair in 1906, which was named after the school whose library they were commissioned for. Since Platt and Cooper started with Neal in 2018, they have learnt not only how to choose the timber, how to weave the rush and how to turn the wood, but also about the history and the provenance of their craft.
The Bedales chair is still their most popular design, but the pair are trying now to 'make a chair into a more accessible modern style, to put into a more modern home', Platt says. Their new Canopy Chair will be featured in Craft Week, showcasing the techniques that have been passed on through six generations of master craftsman.
In turn, last October Platt and Cooper took on their first apprentice. They have already taught him about the locally sourced ash they use and how to steam bend the wood to create the elegant crest of the chair. This June they will show him how they harvest the rushes on the rivers in Morpeth and Stratford on Avon that will supply them with a year's worth of material. 'We are here to make sure that this craft carries on,' Platt says. 'If we stop, there's no one to teach it after us.'
Scarlett Farrer is a woven textile designer specialising in working with hand spun yarns. She studied textile design at the University of Brighton for three years and in her final year looked into the world of hand spinning yarns. She set herself the goal of creating a project as sustainable, traditional and ethical as possible. Called Field to Fabric, it involved Farrer teaching herself the ancient craft of spinning yarn and has since become the basis for her entire practice. She creates large-scale wallhangings, often woven entirely from hand spun British wool. For Farrer they perfectly capture the character of the wool, with each piece having its own distinct pattern and feel. 'I create them using only traditional equipment and tools, which allows me to bring out the natural beauty of the materials and create something truly one of a kind.' In November 2024 she received the young weaver of the year award from Heritage Crafts, supported by Rose Uniacke.
Farrer works closely with local farmers collecting their unwanted sheep and alpaca fleeces. Over the past year and a half she has collected over 30 bags of wool from Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex and north Wales. She hand-process the fleeces in small batches, scouring, washing, carding and spinning the fleeces into yarns.
'It's important to keep traditional skills like spinning and weaving alive because they connect us to our history and heritage,' she says. 'These crafts carry centuries of knowledge and techniques that have been passed down through generations. By preserving them we ensure future generations can appreciate the artistry and value of hand-made textiles.'
By using natural fibres and traditional methods, Farrer's textiles have minimal environmental impact compared to modern industrial processes. 'There's also something deeply satisfying about creating something by hand, knowing the time and care that has gone into each piece,' she says. 'In a world where much of what we buy is mass produced and lacks character, keeping these skills alive allows us to offer an alternative that celebrates quality, craftsmanship and sustainability.'
Chihiro Shigemitsu was introduced to bookbinding through her degree at London College of Communication. Here she met the master craftsman Manuel Mazzotti, who agreed to train her as his apprentice as part of the Homo Faber fellowship programme. 'There are very few bookbinders, and even fewer that can take on apprentices,' says Shigemitsu, who, after six months at Manuel's workshop, reckons she is 'nowhere near close to learning this craft. The level of perfection and excellence that Manuel has shown me is beyond comprehension. I would say that it would take me another 10 to 15 years to call myself a proper bookbinder.'
Nevertheless, she is making a mark for herself taking commissions to make bespoke, hand-made books, including family albums and artist sketchbooks. Her process begins with a conversation with her clients thinking about the paper texture or weight, or the folding of the pages (such as how to use folding as a way to mirror the rhythm of jazz) and how the pages are sewn together. 'My mentor always says to think of books as sculptures, which I think is the perfect way of putting it,' she says.
Through introducing some of the skills of bookbinding to a new audience via social media, Shigemitsu has gathered a community of young creatives keen to collaborate with her. 'I cheekily give myself the title of The Most Sociable Craftsperson and I like to get as many people involved as possible when I'm working on books. Anyone can make their own Instagram page or website, but to make a handmade book will always be different,' she says.
One of the pleasures, she adds, of keeping old skills alive is 'witnessing the appreciation for human connection. If you ever have the chance to invest in something that has thousands of hours of practice behind it, you should definitely do so because you are adding a particular deepness to your life. It's an embodiment of the human spirit in the form of craftsmanship. What's not to love about that?'
London Craft Week runs from May 12 to 18 in various locations around the capital,
