Categories of risk
Drawing on the conservation status system used by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List and the Rare Breeds Survival Trust Watchlist, the HCA 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
Crafts classified as ‘extinct’ are those which are no longer practised. 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. 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.
- Clay pipe making
- Clog making (hand-carved soles)
- Coachbuilding and wagon making
- Collar making
- Devon maund making
- Fan making
- Fore edge painting
- Hat block making
- Metal thread making
- Paper marbling
- Parchment and vellum making
- Piano making
- Plane making
- Saw making
- Spade making (forged heads)
- Swill basket making
- Tanning (oak bark)
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.
- Arrowsmithing
- Bell founding
- Bicycle making
- Bowl turning
- Braiding
- Brass instrument making
- Brick making
- Broom making
- Brush making
- Chair caning
- Chair seating
- Clock and watch making
- Coopering (beer)
- Coppersmithing (objects)
- Cricket bat making
- Engine turning (guilloché)
- Flintknapping (masonry)
- Folding knife making
- Gilding
- Glassworking (scientific glassware)
- Globe making
- Hand grinding
- Harp making
- Horn working
- Hurdle making (gate hurdles)
- Hurdle making (wattle hurdles)
- Illumination
- Japanning
- Ladder making
- Leadworking
- Letter cutting
- Oar, mast, spar and flagpole making
- Pargeting
- Passementerie
- Percussion instrument making
- Rake making
- Sail making
- Scissor making
- Slating
- Split cane rod making
- Sussex trug making
- Tile making (wall and floor tiles)
- Wallpaper making
- Woodwind instrument making (flutes)
- Woodwind instrument making (reed instruments)
Currently viable
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. NB. A classification of ‘currently viable’ does not mean that the craft is risk-free or without issues affecting its future sustainability/viability.
Click here to see the list of currently viable crafts
Data deficient
Crafts classified as ‘data deficient’ are those for which there is insufficient data to make a status classification. They may include crafts for which information has not been provided, popular crafts for which there is no centralised knowledge base, or crafts which are very local and information is hard to come by.
- Carpet and rug tufting
- Corn dolly making
- Cutlery making (table cutlery)
- Lorinery
- Shoe last making
- Straw craft
- Swordsmithing
- Tatting
