Deadline: 5pm on Friday 23 February 2024
This training bursary is targeted at trainees and prospective trainees of fashion textile crafts who are experiencing financial hardship. It is sponsored by The Costume Society and is one of a suite of awards and bursaries offered by Heritage Crafts to support and celebrate heritage craftspeople.
Apply for up to £4,000 to start training in a fashion textile craft or to further develop your skills.
Many people are dissuaded from training in fashion textile crafts because of the cost, and therefore the make-up of the sector is not truly representative of the mix of backgrounds that make up the UK as a whole. This bursary has been set up to help cover or subsidise the cost of training for someone who would otherwise be prevented from pursuing this career path as a result of the cost.
You could be just starting out on your journey in fashion textile crafts or at the point where you want to turn a hobby into a career, or you could already be a maker who is looking to further refine your skills.
Fashion textile crafts can include, but are not limited to, dressmaking, tailoring, pattern cutting, hat making, millinery, glovemaking, fabric pleating, corset making, and so on. Applications for training that prioritises the acquisition of practical hand skills will be favoured over training that is predominantly theoretical or design-oriented.
If you are new to a craft and are struggling to find the right training for you, after your own research, please get in touch and we may be able to support. Successful applicants will be supported by the Heritage Crafts team to develop an action plan. We will work with you to monitor progress and support you to achieve your aims.
What can this grant be used for?
There are a number of routes to learning a craft skill. Applicants can apply for a grant for any amount up to £4,000 which can cover or contribute towards:
- the costs of training with a craftsperson;
- the costs of attending a specialist training course;
- the costs of attending an accredited training course;
- undertaking a self-directed programme of training with one or more craftspeople;
- the cost of specialist tools or materials, books or study materials or low cost travel (no more than 25% of total budget).
The bursary cannot be used for general living expenses, research, promotional activities or anything else. Successful applicants will be supported by the Heritage Crafts team. We will work with to you monitor progress and support you to achieve your aims.
- Bursaries will be only awarded to crafts used in the creation of garments and accessories that include a substantial element of textiles.
- Fabric textile production is eligible if it is intended for garment and accessory making, but not for things like upholstery or tapestry.
- Footwear production that involves stitching is eligible.
- Hat making and millinery are eligible.
- Wig making is eligible, but only if it for costume.
- Button and fastening making and ribbon weaving are eligible, but only if they are for garments or accessories.
- Jewellery making is only eligible if it is of a type that is ineligible for our precious metal bursaries.
- Watchmaking is not eligible.
How to apply
Please apply by filling out the form below. We will also accept a video application of no more than 15 minutes in length in which you address all of the questions in the form below. You can access a list of questions here.
The deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 23 February 2024. If you have any questions or need assistance with the application process, please email Tess Osman at tess@heritagecrafts.org.uk.
Assessment, shortlisting and final selection will be carried out by the Heritage Crafts judging team, and interviews will be carried out by Zoom. If you are new to a craft and you would like assistance with finding a trainer, please get in touch and we will do what we can to help.
21 to 26 March 2022 marked the inaugural #EndangeredCraftWeek, an effort by Heritage Crafts and partner The Prince’s Foundation to shine a light on the urgent need to preserve traditional craft skills.
Over the course of the week we profiled five craft businesses that involve skills featured in the Heritage Crafts Red List of Endangered Crafts.
HRH The Prince of Wales is President of Heritage Crafts and of The Prince’s Foundation. Heritage Crafts was set up in 2009 to support and safeguard traditional craft skills in the UK. Every year we award the President’s Award for Endangered Crafts to one of the nation’s most skilled practitioners, with a £3,000 bursary to invest in ensuring that their craft remains viable.
Applications for the President’s Award for Endangered Crafts are open until 29 April. To find out more visit https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/presidentsaward.
Features
York Handmade
Monday it was the turn of York Handmade, based in Alne just North of York, founded in 1988 and operating on a site where bricks have been made since the 1930s. The company can make bricks of all shapes and sizes in a variety of colours and textures to match existing buildings. They have manufactured bricks for several award-winning heritage projects, conserving the glory of these buildings for generations to come.
The company created 47,000 Dumfries Blend bricks for The Queen Elizabeth II Walled Garden at Dumfries House, headquarters of The Prince’s Foundation. The restoration project won the Best Outdoor Space award in the Brick Awards, the Oscars of the brick industry, for its “magnificent achievement” in restoring the walled garden to its former glory.
It is estimated there are fewer than 20 professional makers of handmade bricks remaining in the UK. Currently there is a healthy demand for the work, but with such a small workforce and fluctuations in supply and demand can have significant effects.
Kate Brett
Tuesday’s focus of #EndangeredCraftWeek was Kate Brett of Payhembury Papers, who has made traditional marbled papers by hand since 1982. Kate, based in Perthshire, specialises in reproducing traditional patterns by floating water-based paints on a size made from carragheen moss.
Marbling began to develop slowly in Britain in the second half of the eighteenth century. Though listed as an endangered craft today, interest in marbling is steadily increasing as a result of social media and a growing appreciation of the traditional technique as opposed to cheaper digital reproductions.
Photo by Kristin Perers
AS Handover Ltd
The spotlight on Wednesday fell on AS Handover Ltd, who hand make professional quality brushes at their workshop in Welwyn Garden City.
Established over 60 years ago, their wide range of products are used by the country’s finest artists and craftspeople in museums, film studios, stately homes and the Houses of Parliament. Their customers range from independent artists, signwriters and decorators through to the royal household at Buckingham Palace.
Brushmaking is highly skilled and the training period is long. However, brush manufacturers, particularly those making fine artists’ brushes, are reporting high demand and that their businesses are growing, so there is hope that this craft will be off the Red List before too long.
Photo by Jackson’s Art
Graeme Bone
Meet Graeme Bone, maker of handsewn kilts from Auchinleck in East Ayrshire and graduate of The Prince’s Foundation’s Future Textiles and Modern Artisan training programmes. Graeme, who featured in our Endangered Craft Week series on Thursday, has become a flagbearer for traditional kilt-making and handcrafted menswear. He previously worked in the steel industry, but left his job to pursue his passion for garment design and manufacture.
Kiltmaking was added to the Red List in 2021. Most kilts are still bought from kilt retailers, not directly from the skilled craftspeople, who often work behind the scenes on a piece rate, underpaid for the work that they do. The kiltmaker as a craftsperson has been largely invisible, but Graeme and his contemporaries are working hard to remedy that.
Rebecca Struthers
Rounding off our inaugural #EndangeredCraftWeek was Rebecca Struthers, a traditional watchmaker based in Birmingham and current holder of the Heritage Crafts President’s Award for Endangered Crafts.
Rebecca uses traditional methods, materials and techniques in the restoration of vintage and antique watches as well as the production of her own. She is the first, and currently only, watchmaker in the UK to earn a PhD in horology.
There are only a small handful of businesses still practising traditional watchmaking in the UK today, with fewer than 20 traditional makers earning a living from making as opposed to repair and restoration. It is now virtually impossible to create every component of a watch in the UK due to a shortage of allied craft businesses, including spring-making and jewel-making.
Photos by Andy Pilsbury
Heritage Crafts has teamed up with Creative Lives for a programme of events and on-air coverage of crafts in Coventry, to coincide with Coventry City of Culture. We are grateful for funding by Coventry City Council.
From January until March, The Making of Coventry will feature a series of craft workshops and on-air content focusing on how making has defined the city in the past and continues to do so today; from the wool and leather trades, through ribbon making, and watchmaking, through to car and bicycle making,
Coventry is a city steeped in craft skill, and that legacy continues to this day with these skills and and many more. We will be using this opportunity to celebrate the role that making plays in keeping us healthy, happy and engaged with the material and social world around us, and its contribution to local distinctiveness and place.
on 26 March a flagship event at Drapers Hall will combine influential and inspiring talks, demonstrations of craft skills and opportunities for you to take part.
If you would like to take part in any way, please contact Daniel Carpenter at daniel@heritagecrafts.org.uk today!
Making Places
When: Saturday 26 March 2022, 10am to 4pm
Where: Drapers Hall, Coventry, and other nearby venues
Making Places is a one day event as part of The Making of Coventry, a partnership project between Heritage Crafts and Creative Lives, funded by Coventry City Council, and coinciding with Coventry City of Culture.
The event will combine:
- Keynote speakers (to be confirmed)
- Panel discussion
- Craft demonstrations
- Repair Café
- Craft Cinema
- Craft activities
- Tour of the craft collection at The Herbert Gallery & Museum
- Tour of crafted objects at Coventry Cathedral
CLICK HERE TO BOOK
Hairy Barge Event
When: Saturday 26 March 12.30pm to 3.30pm
Where: Coventry Canal Basin
A number of talks and workshops at the intersection of heritage, craft and contemporary art to mark the arrival of Pangaea Sculptors’ Centre‘s Hairy Barge into Coventry; bringing our straw harvest to the communities that will help to transform it this Spring/Summer into the Hand Earth Gesture Return public art installation.
Learn more about the programme and how you can get involved.
Craft Workshops
If you’re curious to try your hand at some heritage crafts, you’re in luck! Our partner Creative Lives will be hosting a series of craft workshops in different venues across Coventry as part of the project. Participation is FREE and open to everyone in Coventry (check eligibility requirements when registering):
Coventry Craft Stories
Weavers in Coventry, by George Lilly Anderson (1895)
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 city’s past, or from other places in the world their families might originate from.
Did your ancestor or family member work in one of Coventry’s iconic industries such as ribbon weaving or car manufacture? Or perhaps they worked from home in a ‘cottage industry’ or as an independent artisan working in a workshop? Perhaps you are involved in making of some sort and this activity you share with your family member or ancestor gives you an insight into their life, or makes you feel closer to them in a way that just hearing or reading about them might not?
We are hoping that some of the best stories might feature on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire Radio as well as being showcased at a special event at Draper’s Hall in Coventry on Saturday 26 March 2022.
If you have a story to tell, please let Daniel know at daniel@heritagecrafts.org.uk.
Craft Cinema at The Making of Coventry
Deadline: 25 February 2022
We are seeking submissions of short films (under 30 minutes) for the craft cinema at Making Places on 26 March 2022. The Craft Cinema will showcase the best of UK heritage crafts, both historic and practiced today, focusing on both Coventry and the rest of the UK. The theme of the the event is how crafts contribute to local distinctiveness and a sense of place through time.
Categories:
- Films about craft in Coventry and surrounding areas (historic and/or practiced today)
- Films about heritage crafts practised elsewhere in the UK that show how making contributes to local distinctiveness and a sense of place through time
Click here for more details, including how to submit your films
Craig and Rebecca Struthers. Photo by Richard Ivey.
Birmingham-based watchmaker Rebecca Struthers has won the 2021 HCA President’s Award for Endangered Crafts. The prestigious award, and £3,000 bursary, was initiated by Heritage Crafts Association President HRH The Prince of Wales.
The HCA was set up 11 years ago as a national charity to support and safeguard heritage crafts skills, and has become well known for its Red List of Endangered Crafts, the first research of its kind to rank traditional crafts in the UK by the likelihood they would survive the next generation.
The President’s Award trophy was presented to Dr Struthers at a special presentation on Friday 10 September 2021, hosted by The Prince’s Foundation, one of the country’s major providers of training in traditional building skills. The Prince of Wales was in attendance at the presentation, which also saw a trophy awarded to 2020 winners, Paul Jacobs and Jonathan Reid from Ernest Wright Scissors, whose presentation was unable to proceed last year due to COVID restrictions.
HCA President’s Award
Between 1630 and 1890, England was the centre of global watchmaking, home to many of the world’s most celebrated watchmakers. By 1793, twenty thousand London watchmakers were part of the city’s population of one million inhabitants, representing around one fiftieth of the population. Today watchmaking is listed as critically endangered on the HCA Red List of Endangered Crafts.
Dr Rebecca Struthers is Director and watchmaker of a traditional watchmaking workshop and studio in Birmingham alongside husband and fellow master watchmaker Craig. They use traditional methods, materials and techniques in the restoration of vintage and antique watches as well as the production of her own timepieces. She is the first, and currently only, watchmaker in the UK to earn a PhD in horology.
Award winners with HRH The Prince of Wales. Photo by Richard Ivey.
Dr Struthers is a Fellow of the British Horological Institute and Royal Society of Arts, a Trustee of the Museum of Timekeeping in Newark, and a Jury Member of the Academy, Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. She has received over a dozen awards over the years for her craft, design, entrepreneurship and research, and her work has appeared in a range of media including the BBC, New York Times and Wall Street Journal. She is currently writing a non-fiction book for Hodder & Stoughton on the history of time, told through watches, and the way in which they have influenced societies and cultures around the world.
Dr Struthers plans to use the prize to create a free-to-use educational website for anyone with an interest in learning the art of watchmaking. It would list training opportunities and facilities, and allow people to share projects they are currently working on and seek advice and feedback from a watchmaking community. It would also share useful technical information and charts, articles, a reference library and short videos on her own techniques for others to learn from.
Winner Dr Rebecca Struthers said:
“As independent makers the high costs of training a full-time apprentice means that even if it were possible, the apprentice’s pay would be so low that it would be prohibitive to people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. The President’s Award has provided us with the foundation to start something we hope will help to break down these boundaries and allow us to share what we do for free, in a manageable way for us. To have such a prestigious beginning for this project is an invaluable start!”
HCA Chair Patricia Lovett MBE said:
“Many people know HRH The Prince of Wales as being a long-time supporter and champion of traditional craft skills, and his passion is all too evident through initiatives such as the HCA President’s Award and The Prince’s Foundation. Dr Struthers and Ernest Wright Scissors are immensely deserving winners and we know that in their hands the prizes will provide a massive boost to the outlook of these critically endangered crafts.”
Jonathan Reid and Paul Jacobs from Ernest Wright Scissors. Photo by Richard Ivey.
2020 winner Ernest Wright scissor makers was founded in 1902 and reflects everything Sheffield has become famous for – highly skilled craftspeople making supreme quality products.
Following a tragedy in 2018, the company went into receivership and the critically endangered craft of scissor making was on the verge of disappearing from Sheffield. Paul Jacobs and Jan Bart Fanoy took action and bought the company, re-hired the remaining master putter-togetherers, Cliff Denton and Eric Stones, and took on several ‘putters’ in training. The factory is now back in action, with the prize used to repair machinery so that their putter-in-training can learn the craft from Cliff and Eric.
Click here to see details of this year’s finalists, including hat plaiter Veronica Main and wallpaper maker Hugh Dunford-Wood.
Click here to read more about the President’s Award trophies.
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 Britain’s heritage’.
The Express featured ‘Ancient crafts under threat as vital skills not passed on’ and it was also reported on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme and BBC Alba.
Magazines including Country Life, Homes & Antiques and the Countryman also covered the story, with Reclaim magazine producing a special 16-page supplement on at-risk heritage crafts.
Here’s a selection of the coverage:
The New York Times
‘Just How Endangered Is Watchmaking?’
20 Feb 2019
Epoch Times
‘Holding On to Heritage Crafts’
20 Feb 2019
Reclaim magazine
‘British Heritage Crafts’ (16 page supplement)
March 2019 edition
The Countryman
‘Heritage Crafts Conservation’, pp. 40-44
March 2019 edition
Homes and Antiques magazine
‘The art of survival’, pp. 130-135
April 2019 edition
Mail Online
‘Holding on to Britain’s heritage’
8 March 2019
Daily Mail
‘Save our skills!’ pp. 36-37
9 March 2019
Daily Express
‘Ancient crafts under threat as vital skills not passed on’, pp. 20-21
9 March 2019
Daily Telegraph
‘Last in Line’, p.11
9 March 2019
BBC Radio 4 Today (from 1.49:24)
9 March 2019
Daily Mirror
’36 old crafts set to vanish’, p. 33
9 March 2019
The Herald
‘Dozens of ancient crafts are now listed as dying arts’, p. 10
9 March 2019
Daily Record
‘Extinction threat to UK crafts’, p. 34
9 March 2019
Country Life
‘On the danger list’
13 March 2019
BBC Alba
An Là (News) (from 24:18)
14 March 2019
