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Statement on situation in Gaza and Israel

As a UNESCO-accredited NGO for Intangible Cultural Heritage, we echo the UN Secretary General's statement that "[h]ostilities in Gaza and Israel have created appalling human suffering, physical destruction and collective trauma across Israel and the Occupied...

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Speech by Hannah Girvan

At last month's Heritage Crafts Awards Winners' Reception at the College of St George, Windsor Castle, bursary recipient Hannah Girvan made this speech, which resonated with many of us there: "I burnt out in an office job during the pandemic, as Equity, Diversity and...

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Outsider Craft podcast with Yusuf Osman

Outsider Craft is the new podcast from the Leathersellers Company and Heritage Crafts member Yusuf Osman, which seeks to rediscover the purpose and meaning of craft, as we navigate our internal world as individuals and the complex issues that we are facing as a society today.

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Thoughts on the 2023 edition of the Red List

by Mary Lewis, Heritage Crafts Endangered Crafts Manager When Heritage Crafts published the first edition of the Red List of Endangered Crafts back in 2017, the hope was that by repeating the research on a two-yearly basis, over time the changes would become less...

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Monks and Manuscripts

Andy Bates
 
In December 2022 member Andy Bates embarked on a tour of Northumberland first schools, in which he delivered workshops celebrating the Lindisfarne Gospels and the type of Anglo Saxon scriptorium in which they were created.

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Craft Britain: Why Making Matters

Craft Britain: Why Making Matters
 
This autumn, Helen Chislett and David Linley’s (the Earl of Snowdon) book, Craft Britain: Why Making Matters will be published, featuring a number of crafts on the Red List of Endangered Crafts.

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Crefftwr – celebrating heritage craftsmanship in Wales

Crefftwr – celebrating heritage craftsmanship in Wales This piece was written by Heritage Crafts Ambassador Dr Alex Langlands to accompany the Crefftwr: heritage Crafst in Wales exhibition running until 12 June 2022 at the Turner Gallery in Penarth, funded...

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Coventry Craft Stories

As part of our The Making of Coventry project in partnership with Creative Lives (part of Coventry City of Culture), we are putting out a call for people of Coventry and the surrounding area to tell us about stories of making in their families, whether that was in the...

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President’s Award trophies

These awards were presented by HCA President HRH The Prince of Wales on 10 September 2021 at a special presentation at Dumfries House, to 2021 President's Award for Endangered Crafts winner Rebecca Struthers and 2020 winner Ernest Wright Scissors. The awards were...

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Why I joined the HCA as an overseas member

Kate Dimancescu
 
Kate Dimancescu: “As travel is currently restricted and as I am an author, when asked to share why I joined The HCA as an overseas member I decided to share my thoughts in a written testimonial. Being a new HCA member has been a tremendously rewarding experience thus far.

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Trustee diversity statement

Bobbins photo by Nick Hand
 
Like many other organisations, Heritage Crafts has made a commitment to increase diversity and representation within the charity – in our staff team, our trustee board and our critical friends (Vice-Presidents, Ambassadors, Advisors) – to be able to better serve and represent our members, those engaging with us and those who do not yet engage with us.

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1,000th member Louise Altman

Louise Altman
 
We are delighted to have recently welcomed our 1,000th member of the Heritage Crafts Association, wallpaper maker Louise Altman. Here, Louise tells us a little bit about her work and why she chose to join the HCA.

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Deborah White, damask weaver

Deborah White
 
In 2019, Deborah was awarded £2,000 from the Endangered Craft Fund to help restore the Royal Loom. She aims to be designing and weaving her own linen damask on the loom when the restoration project is complete.

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Taking Heritage Crafts International

by Innan Sasaki, Warwick Business School, and Davide Ravasi, UCL School of Management Heritage and heritage crafts are sometimes misunderstood as part of a purely nostalgic and inward-looking industry. But those who work in the industry know that heritage crafters...

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A Stitch in Time – Scotland’s craft heritage

Colinton resident and art and craft expert Gill Colthart has been inspired by the historical drama television series Outlander to delve into the subject of Scottish indigenous crafts and here she gives us a bit of background to some of our craft heritage.

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Accessing financial support during COVID-19

Gerald Monaghan, blacksmith (photo by Philip Utton)
 
The heritage crafts sector is going to be particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, as retailers experience a drop in footfall and selling events are cancelled all around the country. This is a summary of the financial support currently available.

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COVID-19 crafts business survey results

In April 2020 we carried out a survey among heritage craftspeople on their businesses outlook during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey showed that: 73% of respondents were at reduced capacity or were unable to work as an indirect result of COVID-19; 71% believed their...

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Meghan sees us through our first ten years!

Meghan Purvis
 
In March 2010 we accepted our first ever member, Meghan Purvis, who remains a member to this day! Meghan said: “Each time I try a new craft, I’m reminded of the dedication and skill of heritage crafts, and I’m so grateful to the HCA and the people in it for sharing their knowledge and artistry.”

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Making woodwind instruments

Cambridge Woodwind Makers is a not-for-profit organisation providing a platform from which to preserve and teach the skills associated with woodwind instrument making and repair… skills that, according to the Red List of Endangered Crafts, are endangered.

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Statement on the fire at the Notre-Dame

We offer our deepest sympathies to the people of Paris at the devastation to the magnificent Notre-Dame.   These terrible events remind us that our shared cultural heritage is hugely important to our sense of identity.  As we consider where the skills will come from...

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Red List 2019 in the press

Following the launch of the Red List of Endangered Crafts 2019 edition, the story was picked up across a range of print and broadcast media. The Daily Mail ran with a double-page spread entitled  ‘Save our skills’, with the its online edition opting for ‘Holding on to...

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Gilding the Gingerbread trailer

The trailer for our Gilding the Gingerbread film, supported by The Goldsmiths' Company and produced by Palio Films. DVDs of the full film are available from the HCA Shop and you can hear Ellie Berkhead speak about the project at Making is Good for You – The Heritage...

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The Sailmaker

Lovely little film about British sailmaker Chris Spencer Chapman from Salcombe, Devon, directed by his daughter Hazel.

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The art and mystery of needle making

A film about the history of the needle making industry made by the Worshipful Company of Needlemakers, one of London's ancient Livery companies (via Caroline Rousset-Johnson on...

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Hannah Hauxwell quilts to go on sale

Hannah Hauxwell (1926-2018) was emblematic of the tough, resourceful upland farmers of North Yorkshire and County Durham. Having run her family farm, Low Birk Hatt in Baldersdale, since the death of her parents and uncle when she was 35, Hauxwell lived a life of...

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Gilding the Gingerbread

View the film trailer Two fortunate trainees, Ellen Wood and Tony Hassett, learned the traditional craft skills of gilding on the Cutty Sark ship in Greenwich on 6th and 7th August. Master craftswoman Rachael Linton demonstrated the skills and explained the processes...

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A fabulous exhibition of works at Manchester Craft and Design Centre

Endangered Crafts, which was based on the HCA’s Red List, culminated in a fabulous exhibition of works at Manchester Craft and Design Centre in May. Over 150 students from across the School participated in the project, with selected works exhibited as part of the School of Art’s Unit X Festival.  

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University of Lincoln uses virtual reality to provide experience of heritage crafts

lincoln 
The University of Lincoln has developed a new system to use virtual reality technology to train young blacksmiths, saying that it wants to get more people involved in trades that are in danger of disappearing. Using their virtual blacksmith’s forge, users can experience the basic principles behind blacksmithing, and the hope is that young people might go on to take it up for real.

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European Folk Art and Craft Federation

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Last month, HCA trustees met with Solveig Torgersen Grinder (Norwegian Folk Art and Craft Association) and Liina Veskimägi (Estonian Folk Art and Craft Union) from the European Folk Art and Craft Federation…

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Craft notes from Japan

I’ve been in Japan for 2 weeks now (with another 4 to go) and have already seen plenty of wonderful Japanese crafts. Although it is hot in August, I have to admit I’m a fan of hot weather so I’m having a great time.

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Art in Action

Last weekend I attended Art in Action a most wonderful show near Oxford. We were offered a free HCA stand after the organisers attended our spring conference at the V&A…

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JW Evans silversmiths, saved or lost?

When a craft business that has a special part in our history is in danger of closing what should we do? How about buy it and spend large sums of public money on preserving the building, artifacts and accumulated detritus whilst letting the last skilled artisans stop work and walk away?

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Royal support for crafts initiative

The Prince of Wales has always had wonderful respect for craftspeople working with tradition, and now he has taken on the presidency of a new organisation created by craftspeople themselves.

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Can we define what craft is?

Yesterday I was a meeting in London of the steering group for a major piece of government funded research into the state of heritage crafts in England.

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Heritage Heroes BBC TV

Last October I spent a lot of time advising the team for a new BBC program on potential craftspeople they could visit as part of a series at that time billed as ‘Heritage at Risk’.

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Manifesto for Crafts Education

The HCA’s highly successful and rewarding Manifesto for Making at the Spring Conference last year, the findings of the Mapping Heritage Crafts focus groups, and the Crafts Council’s research into the current state of education in crafts have all highlighted the current issues with craft teaching and learning.

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Why heritage crafts are important

Keynote speech by Professor Ewan Clayton Professor Ewan Clayton is a renowned calligrapher, Visiting Professor in Art, Design, Media and Culture at the University of Sunderland and lecturer in calligraphy at the University of Roehampton. The HCA was honoured that...

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Craft Guild of Traditional Bowyers and Fletchers Celebrate Birthday

For hundreds of years the English bow changed little – after all, there are very few significant modifications you can make to a stick and a string. True, the mighty war bow differed from the rather less powerful bow used for hunting, as did the lighter and more attractively created bow used for recreation.

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