FAQs
Here are a list of frequently asked questions. If your question is still not answered, please send us a message here
General
What is Heritage Crafts in one sentence?
Heritage Crafts is the UK charity set up to celebrate, support and safeguard traditional craft skills, and to facilitate a national conversation about their importance to everyone now and in the future.
What is a heritage craft?
Heritage Crafts defines a heritage craft as a craft that:
- employs manual dexterity and skill at the point of production;
- requires an understanding of traditional materials, design and techniques; and
- has been practised for two or more successive generations.
How do I get an entry added or updated on the crafts list?
Please email Mary at [email protected] with your query about the crafts list.
What is the difference between the crafts list and the Maker Directory?
The crafts list is the research list compiled and updated by Heritage Crafts on all of the heritage crafts in the UK, which is updated alongside the Red List of Endangered Crafts every two years.
The Makers Directory is a Heritage Crafts membership benefit that allows any of the charity’s members to have a profile to showcase their work as a maker.
Where is Heritage Crafts based?
The charity is 100% remote and does not have a bricks-and-mortar office.
Membership
Who can be a member of Heritage Crafts?
Anyone. Heritage Crafts membership is open to all, whether you are a professional craftsperson, an amateur maker, or someone who is craft curious.
Can I become a member if I am international?
Yes. We have members from across the world and are grateful for our international members’ support.
Is Heritage Crafts membership an accreditation for makers?
No. Our membership is a program that provides support to the charity while simultaneously building a community of makers and craft curious people alike who wish to support, engage and learn more about Heritage Crafts.
Should I be an individual member or business member as an independent entrepreneur?
If you run your own business solo, become an individual member. If your business has multiple people who would like to receive membership benefits, then become a business member (up to five people can receive membership digital content).
Grants/Bursaries/Awards
Which funding scheme is right for me?
The Endangered Crafts Fund is for practitioners of at-risk crafts featured on the Red List of Endangered Crafts to overcome an obstacle or undertake a project to make their craft more likely to survive.
Training bursaries are for new entrants or early career craftspeople who are unable to progress because of the cost of training.
Heritage Crafts Awards are for recognition of something you have achieved, and usually come with a cash prize.
Can I apply for funding more than once?
Yes.
If I volunteer for Heritage Crafts, am I allowed to apply for funding?
Yes.
How long will it take to hear back about my application?
It depends on the funding opportunity and the amount of applicants. The grants are in high demand and so we do see a high number of applications per round.
We do aim to have results back with applicants between 9-12 weeks after the grant deadline.
Please check out the extensive FAQ for each funding opportunity in the links above.
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Join us from Friday 12 to Sunday 14 June at our Marquee of Endangered Crafts at @craftfestival in Bovey Tracey, where we’ll be featuring demonstrations of crafts featured on the Red List of Endangered Crafts and an exciting talks programme.
Demonstrations:
• Ed Griffiths and Sarah Spicer (@dartmoorshoemakers) – shoe making
• @zoegilbertson and @sophie_scanlon (LIFLAD CIC)– flax processing
• Simon Nobs and Marcus Nobs (@sthcoaststudio) – woodgraining and marbling
• @nick_hand (Department of Small Works) – letterpress
• James Ashwell (@mottes_pots) – clay pipe making
• @stephs.midnight.flit – wagon painting
Talks: (subject to change)
Friday:
• 10.30am – Mash Bonigala (@theenglandarchive)
• 11.30pm – @amy.goodwin.signwriter (fairground artist) in conversation
• 2pm – @wheelwrightgreg and @wheelwright.sam (wheelwrights) in conversation
• 3pm – @bramblecarpentry interviews @lacebynicholas (lacemaker)
Saturday:
• 10.30am – Sarah Liscoe (sail maker) in conversation
• 11.30pm – @jamesfox283 (author of ‘Craftland’)
• 2pm – @bramblecarpentry interviews @johnwilliamson.dartmoor (Devon stave basket maker)
• 3pm – @katestrasdin (author of ‘Dressing the Queen – 200 years of Making and Monarchy’)
Sunday:
• 10.30am – @thistlemetimbers (boatbuilder) in conversation
• 11.30am – @papilionaceouspuresilk (ribbon maker) in conversation
• 2pm – @sarahvigarsart (marionette maker) – talk and performance
Book via https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/events/marquee-of-endangered-crafts/ or the linktr.ee in our bio.
Living Legacies – 13 May 2026, 11am to 4.30pm
Leathersellers’ Hall, 7 St Helen’s Place, London EC3A 6AB
Heritage Crafts, @theleathersellers and @saddlerscompany.saddlershall are delighted to be collaborating on Living Legacies, a unique celebration of some of the UK’s most endangered craft traditions. This day-long showcase brings together master makers, heritage experts and the public to explore rare skills – from passementerie and pigment making to shoemaking and falconry furniture making.
This is a pop-in exhibition, open between 11am and 4pm, with the opportunity to hear from practising makers, and for visitors to ask questions and experience these crafts up close. At 3.30pm, Mary Lewis, Head of Craft Sustainability at Heritage Crafts, will offer insights into the state of endangered crafts today.
Discover the living heritage of the UK’s craft traditions – and the people keeping them alive.
Book for free at https://londoncraftweek.com/events/living-legacies-endangered-crafts-in-the-uk or via the linktr.ee in our bio.
📸 @onurpinarphoto
Our Staying Alive exhibition in partnership with @makesouthwest is now open until 4 July at Make Southwest, Riverside Mill, Fore Street, Bovey Tracey, Devon TQ13 9AF.
This exhibition shines a light on some of the Southwest’s most endangered crafts.
Fourteen master makers share their skills, tools, and stories, showing how traditions shaped by the region’s land and sea still have relevance and beauty today. From boatbuilding and ropemaking to hedging, basketmaking and tanning, these crafts connect past and present, keeping centuries of knowledge alive in the modern world.
• Find out about visiting the exhibition
• Experience the exhibition remotely on Bloomberg Connects
• Book onto one of the events, including ‘Signwrite your own ornate letter’ with @amy.goodwin.signwriter, ‘Make a ditty bag’ with Sue Liscoe, ‘Make a flax corn dolly’ with @flax_project, and ‘Make a willow crab pot’ with @crabpotcellars
• Hear talks with some of the exhibitors at Craft Festival Bovey Tracey, 12 to 14 June 2026
• Buy an A2 poster of the exhibition map illustrated by @illustratedbyverity
https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/our-stories/staying-alive-exhibition/ or via the linktr.ee in our bio
Three years of making, heritage and creativity come together this May at @kelmscottmanor
Over the past three years, @heritagecrafts , @socantiquaries and @kelmscottmanor have hosted a successful Maker in Residence programme, inviting contemporary makers to explore living craft traditions in the former home of William Morris.
This May, work by all three Makers in Residence will be brought together in a special exhibition featuring ceramicist @alisonproctorceramics , illuminator @sarahdavisartist and basket maker @sarah_le_breton, showcasing how traditional skills can be preserved, reimagined and kept alive through contemporary practice.
📍Exhibition opens Friday 1 May and runs throughout May
Join us for a conversation with the makers on Friday 1 May
See live demonstrations on Saturday 2 May
From sprig moulding and illumination to basketry, this exhibition celebrates the enduring relevance of heritage crafts and the ways they continue to evolve.
Make sure to visit Kelmscott this month.
#HeritageCrafts #WilliamMorris #MakerInResidence #LivingHeritage CraftExhibition
Crafted at Sotheby’s panel discussion – 16 May 2026, 10.30am to 11.30am
The Future of Craft – How do we keep vital skills alive?
From stonemasonry and weaving to glassblowing and basketry, many traditional crafts are under threat. This conversation explores what these skills still offer, why they matter, and how innovation, technology and new models of support might help sustain them, reimagine them and carry them into the future.
Panellists include Daniel Carpenter @heritagecrafts, Lucy Brown @hugoburgefoundation, Louis Elton @nationofartisans and James Haldane @sothebys.
https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/events/crafted-at-sothebys/
This week’s #MondayMaker is @sarah_le_breton
Her work is rooted in a deep passion for willow basketry and traditional craftsmanship. Sarah creates handwoven pieces that honour heritage techniques while exploring contemporary form.
Working from her Devon studio with locally sourced Somerset willow and rush, Sarah makes beautifully crafted baskets, sculptural lighting and woven forms designed for modern life which are all grounded in traditional skills.
Her practice also champions skeinwork, an endangered basketry technique she is helping keep alive through making, teaching and research.
Alongside commissions and workshops, Sarah is the 2025 Maker in Residence at Kelmscott Manor, where she is exploring the connections between rural craft, sustainability and the legacy of William Morris.
From heritage basket forms to innovative new work, Sarah’s practice is a powerful example of craft traditions continuing to evolve.
#basketry #livingHeritage #mondayMaker #heritagecraftuk
Heritage Crafts Weekend at the Cutty Sark – Saturday 16 May 2026, 11am to 4pm
Join @royalmuseumsgreenwich and Heritage Crafts at the Cutty Sark as we shine a spotlight on the heritage craft skills used to build and maintain this historic tea clipper.
Join us for drop-in activities, where you’ll learn about crafts such as rope-making, fender-making and traditional caulking. You’ll also have the opportunity to take a closer look at and handle a range of historical objects and contemporary craft objects. Recommended for ages 5+.
https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/events/cuttysark/
‘As a clog maker, I’m an endangered species’ on BBC News
“I need to be making things to be happy,” says @simon_brock_clogs. “At the end of the day if I’ve got nothing that I can hold in my hands and say I’ve done that today, it feels like a day wasted.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxk34zkq2eo
