Craft status
The Heritage Crafts Red List
Drawing on the conservation status system used by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List and the Rare Breeds Survival Trust Watchlist, Heritage Crafts uses a system of four categories of risk to assess the viability of heritage crafts. A heritage craft is considered to be viable if there are sufficient craftspeople to transmit the craft skills to the next generation.
Extinct in the UK
Crafts classified as ‘extirpated’ or ‘locally extinct’ are those which are no longer practised in the UK. For the purposes of this research, this category only includes crafts which have become extinct in the past generation.
Critically Endangered
Crafts classified as ‘critically endangered’ are those at serious risk of no longer being practised in the UK. They may include crafts with a shrinking base of craftspeople, crafts with limited training opportunities, crafts with low financial viability, or crafts where there is no mechanism to pass on the skills and knowledge.
Endangered
Crafts classified as ‘endangered’ are those which currently have sufficient craftspeople to transmit the craft skills to the next generation, but for which there are serious concerns about their ongoing viability. This may include crafts with a shrinking market share, an ageing demographic or crafts with a declining number of practitioners.
Currently Viable Crafts
Crafts classified as ‘currently viable’ are those which are in a healthy state and have sufficient craftspeople to transmit the craft skills to the next generation. They may include crafts with a large market share, widely popular crafts, or crafts with a strong local presence. A classification of ‘currently viable’ does not mean that the craft is risk-free or without issues affecting its future sustainability/viability.
Heritage Crafts Inventory
The 2025 edition of the Red List of Endangered Crafts marks a significant evolution in how we understand and safeguard traditional crafts.
This year, we introduce the Heritage Craft Inventory – a new, inclusive framework that ensures all heritage crafts, regardless of their current status, have a place where they are recognised and valued under one umbrella. This expanded approach allows us to shine a light not only on endangered and critically endangered crafts, but also on those that are resurgent, culturally distinctive, or rooted in specific communities and regions. It reflects the dynamic landscape of craft today – one that is constantly evolving and shaped by both challenges and opportunities.
Culturally distinctive crafts
Crafts designated as ‘culturally distinctive’ might have a broad uptake across the UK, but hold a particular significance for a defined community of practice, whether that is geographic, cultural, ethnic or religious. Those that are also on the Red List are known as ‘crafts in need of cultural safeguarding’.
- Canal art and boat painting (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Cornish hedging (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Fair Isle Knitting
- Fair Isle straw back chair making (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Fairground art (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Gansey knitting
- Harris tweed weaving
- Islamic calligraphy
- Northern Isles basket making (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Orkney chair making (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Petrakivka (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Pysanky (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Sgian dubh and dirk making (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Shetland lace knitting
- Shinty caman making
- Sofrut calligraphy
- Sporran making (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Thatching (Irish vernacular) (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Thatching (Scottish vernacular) (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Thatching (Welsh vernacular) (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Vardo and living wagon crafts (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Welsh double cloth weaving (craft for cultural safeguarding)
Resurgent crafts
Crafts designated as ‘resurgent’ are currently experiencing a positive trajectory as a result of an upswing in new entrants. Just because a craft is considered resurgent does not mean that it cannot also be endangered, but rather that its decline has started to reverse and that its situation is likely to continue improving.
Latest Red List stories
Craft skills remain under threat with 20 new additions to the Red List of Endangered Crafts
Nine more grants to help save endangered crafts
Craft skills under threat with 17 additions to the Red List of Endangered Crafts
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Heritage Crafts at Craft Festival Wales @craftfestival
When: 11 to 13 September 2026
Where: Cardigan Castle
We’re thrilled to be back at Craft Festival Wales this September, bringing with us makers dedicating their lives to keeping rare and remarkable skills alive.
This year, you can meet drystone waller Barney Murray @barneywalling, polisher and enameller Freya Bletsoe @isabellaossett, quiltmaker Samantha Jones @samanthajonesquilts, and milliner Emily Gash @wade.evans.designs.
Mary Lewis @maryeluned_craft, Head of Craft Sustainability at Heritage Crafts, will also be hosting a panel discussion featuring Barney Murray and Katy Bevan from Quickthorn Books @quickthornbooks at 3.30pm on Sunday 13 September – Living Lineage: What Does Heritage Craft Mean Today?
https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/events/craft-festival-wales-2026/ or via the linktr.ee in our bio.
Five-day Passementerie Masterclass with Jessica Light @jessica_light_, the ‘Tassel Queen of Bethnal Green’ – supported by @goldsmithsfoundation. 🧵
📍 Where: Weavers Works @weavers.works, Walthamstow, London E17 7BH
⏰ When: 25 to 30 October 2026, 10am to 4pm each day with a lunch break (lunch provided)
💰 Cost: £300 (three free bursary places available for those from under-represented communities or facing financial hardship – subject to availability)
✍️ Application deadline: Monday 31 August 2026
Join the ‘Tassel Queen of Bethnal Green’ for a five-day intensive course on passementerie aimed at intermediate textile practitioners. With over three decades of experience in the trade, a well-established authority on the historic techniques and one of only a few contemporary practitioners, Jessica Light is a leading figure in the endangered craft of passementerie.
This is a unique opportunity to spend a considerable amount of time with Jessica, gaining hands-on experience, close tuition on a range of weaving and table work techniques, guidance on materials and colour, and a look at passementerie notation.
At the end of the course, trainees will be able to create highly ornamental or pared-back embellishments for furniture, lighting, clothes, and costumes through a rich interplay of materials, techniques, patterns, colours, and textures.
This course is not intended as an ‘experience’; it is for working practitioners who intend to incorporate these skills into their textile practice. Both masterclasses cover the same areas and each have five places available, providing a focused and supportive learning environment.
To ensure equitable access to this vital training opportunity, we are providing three free bursary places for individuals from under-represented communities or facing financial hardship – subject to availability.
Please note, places will be allocated based on suitability. Please fill in the application form and Heritage Crafts will contact you with news of whether you have been accepted onto the course.
📲 For more details and to apply, please visit the linktr.ee in our bio or https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/our-stories/passementeriemasterclass/.
#matchMAKER opportunity!
Trainee Jeweller
Where: Cambridgeshire
Chloe’s Jewellers & Repairs has been family-owned business for over 100 years, serving the high streets of Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Essex and Norfolk with high quality jewellery sales and repairs.
This paid internship is designed to nurture your talent while offering invaluable industry insights. Grow your skills alongside expert artisans in a vibrant environment that celebrates creativity, precision, and innovation.
You will gain hands-on experience in various aspects of jewellery making, from initial design concepts to finishing touches, while contributing to the creation of beautiful, high-quality pieces.
Find out more including how to apply at https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/matchmaker.
#matchMAKER is the online platform for work-based training and entry-level employment opportunities hosted by @heritagecrafts and supported by @soanebritain.
We are delighted to announce our expert judging panel for this year’s Emerging Metalworker of the Year Award supported by Lucy and Laurence Butcher. This award celebrates the talent, grit, and artistry of those in the first five years of their professional metalworking journey. ⚒️
• Russell Lownsbrough @russell_lownsbrough – award-winning master craftsman, wax carver and goldsmith with over thirty years of professional experience in the trade, Russell is renowned for his bespoke jewellery, silverware and medals using traditional lost-wax casting methods alongside direct metalworking. A Fellow of the Institute of Professional Goldsmiths and a judge for the Goldsmiths Craft and Design Awards, he is passionate about passing on specialised bench skills through masterclasses and industry mentoring.
• Lisa Wisdom @lisawisdomartist – acclaimed traditional blacksmith and jeweller who transforms salvaged, rusted metals into evocative landscape collages, Lisa utilises the natural weathering, minerals and textures of reclaimed copper, zinc, lead and iron. An Associate of the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths and member of the Cornwall Crafts Association, she champions sustainable, regenerative material use and creative improvisation.
This award is open to any craft where metal is the primary material, including blacksmithing, coppersmithing, tinsmithing, silversmithing, goldsmithing, swordsmithing, knife making, cutlery making, bronze casting, brass instrument making … and more!
There is a £1,000 prize for the winner to be presented at a high-profile Winners’ Reception in November.
📅 Deadline: Friday 21 August 2026 (at 5pm)
➡️ Nominate someone (or yourself) today via the linktr.ee in our bio or directly at https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/our-awards/emerging-metalworker-of-the-year/
📷 2024 finalist Caitlin Murphy
Become a Heritage Crafts member in time for our next online member Book Club meeting on Wednesday 9 September 2026, at 6.30pm.
Following the success of our second members’ Book Club that discussed Tracey Chevalier’s The Glassmaker, the next book club meeting will discuss Art Cure by @daisy.fancourt, the award-winning scientist and world-leading expert on psychobiology.
Once you’re a member you can get the link for the meeting and find some reading prompts in the Heritage Crafts member portal.
heritagecrafts.org.uk/join-us
We are delighted to announce our expert judging panel for this year’s Emerging Leatherworker of the Year Award supported by the @theleathersellers. This award celebrates those in the first five years of their professional practice who are already making their mark. 💼👞
• Bill Amberg @billambergstudio – internationally renowned master leather craftsman, designer and industry pioneer with four decades of expertise, Bill has revolutionised the architectural use of leather, pioneering structural, interior and furniture applications alongside bespoke luxury leather goods. He is a passionate advocate for sustainable material sourcing, traditional hide processing and training the next generation of artisans.
• Maisie Hill @ravenhill.leather – leatherworker, marquetry artist and 2025 Emerging Leatherworker of the Year Award winner, Maisie specialising in fine leather restoration, bespoke box-making and intricate leather marquetry at luxury furniture studio Silverlining. Her practice blends meticulous hand-tool mastery with innovative surface manipulation and contemporary aesthetics.
• Yusuf Osman @yussico – formerly a practising solicitor, Yusuf transitioned into craft to pursue traditional leatherworking, specialising in hand-stitched leather goods made using centuries-old saddle-stitching techniques and natural vegetable-tanned hides. Selected for the prestigious Homo Faber Guide, he is a dedicated tutor who actively demystifies the craft through workshops and outreach.
This award is open to any craft where leather is the primary material, including fashion and accessories, saddlery, bridlery and harness making, shoemaking, tanning and more!
There is a £1,000 prize for the winner to be presented at a high-profile Winners’ Reception in November.
📅 Deadline: Friday 21 August 2026 (at 5pm)
➡️ Nominate someone (or yourself) today via the linktr.ee in our bio or directly at https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/our-awards/emerging-leatherworker-of-the-year/
📷 2025 finalist Ana Del Rio Mullarkey @_anadelrio
Exclusive Makers’ Content Lab 📱✂️
Our Makers’ Content Lab is exclusive for Heritage Crafts members and recipients, led by content creator @daisybow_craft.
Social media and content creation have become essential skills for promoting your work, sharing your practice, and building community around your craft/trade. Yet there are few opportunities for makers to learn how to participate meaningfully in this digital space.
The Makers’ Content Lab is a new programme of online sessions designed to help you build confidence, develop practical skills, and explore what social media can look like for you and your craft.
The last session saw Daisy guide us through the process of creating an ‘about me’ post for Instagram.
The next session will take place online on Wednesday 26 August. If you are interested in taking part, and you are not already a member or recipient, please consider signing up as a member!
heritagecrafts.org.uk/join-us
We are delighted to announce our expert judging panel for this year’s Emerging Building Craftsperson of the Year Award 2026, supported by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings @spab1877. 🔨🪜🪚🧱
• Nicola Duncan-Finn @duncanfinnnicola – with over 25 years championing traditional skills and sustainable approaches to heritage management, Nicola’s strategic leadership has helped conserve significant historic sites across England, including castles, ecclesiastical ruins, windmills and vernacular buildings. She has led national partnerships that culminated in the publication of the first Historic Environment Skills and Careers Action Plan for England in 2024.
• Claire Vidler – specialising in traditional timber framing and vernacular architecture, Claire’s practice integrates hands-on craft with academic research, having worked on landmark sites such as Canterbury Cathedral and Westminster Palace. She serves on the SPAB Education and Training Committee and Carpenters Fellowship Board, edits Mortice and Tenon magazine, and lectures for the Weald & Downland Living Museum.
This award is for the rising stars in stonemasonry or gauged brickwork, timber framing or carpentry, heritage tiling or plastering … or any other craft focused on the construction, conservation or repair of buildings or structures.
There is a £1,000 prize for the winner to be presented at a high-profile Winners’ Reception in November.
📅 Deadline: Friday 21 August 2026 (at 5pm)
➡️ Nominate someone (or yourself) today via the linktr.ee in our bio or directly at https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/our-awards/emerging-building-craftsperson-of-the-year/
📷 2024 finalist William Blackmore
