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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Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Emmaly Crimmel @crimmelemmaly, from Swansea, is an MA Glass student at @glass_swansea_college_of_art with a background in fine art, drawing and wood crafts. Her bursary will fund specialist glass painting, engraving and conservation masterclasses with leading practitioners @jonathancookestainedglass, @zoe_boulton_glass, @tracey.sheppard_, @derekhuntartist and @rachelphillipsglass, as well as essential traditional tools.
Emmaly’s bursary is supported by the Ashley Family Foundation.
Emmaly said: “The funding gives my work in stained glass greater depth and purpose by providing access to specialist training and tools. Learning directly from incredibly talented craftspeople who inspire me, alongside having access to specialist tools in my own studio, will help me shape a practice that is truly my own. More than anything, this bursary transforms ambition into reality.”
📷 @zoe_boulton_glass
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
David Bimudu Scott @bimu_woodcrafts, from Brighton, has a background in law and education, currently completing the first year of fine furniture making at the @buildingcraftscollege. His bursary will fund tuition and essential hand tools for his second year of study on the Level 3 Fine Furniture Making programme.
David’s bursary is supported by the @cityandguildsfoundation.
David said: “This funding will help me grow as a furniture maker, giving me the space and time to explore creatively and develop my skills.”
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Laura Kriefman @laurakriefman, from Devon, is an established leaded stained glass artist who is expanding her practice into glass blowing and bending. Her bursary will fund intensive workshops and mentoring with four neon specialists, including Amy Zachariah and Bill Horwood @southwalesneon, @hoarp and @vivid.neon.sweden, reviving neon sign making in the South West.
Laura’s bursary is supported by the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation.
Laura said: “I am humbled to receive this support. This funding will make a dramatic difference to my ability to learn how to make neons, and to explore combining it with my stained glass work. Without this funding I would not be able to pursue such a focused and deliberate period of learning and mentorship. I can’t wait to see how my skills develop.”
📷 @sylvaindeleuphotographer
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
John Allison, from Hertfordshire, has spent over two decades in the British Army and public service and has developed self-taught leatherworking and repair skills. His bursary will fund his place on the Worshipful Company of Saddlers Level 1 programme at @capelmanor and one-to-one training with Jacquie Lawson at the @autointerioracademy.
John’s bursary is supported by the Royal British Legion.
John said: “This bursary means an awful lot to me. It will give me the opportunity to develop the traditional leatherworking and restoration skills I need to turn a long-standing passion for preserving historic objects into a sustainable craft practice and, in time, pass those skills on to others.”
📷 @walsallleatherskillscentre
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Alex Hawes @alexhawes_embroidery, from Surrey, combines fashion, embroidery and costume making. She has a long-term vision to establish a unique costume house that foregrounds embellishment and embroidery, and will mentor future craftspeople. Her bursary will fund an intensive costume making course at the @themanchesterschoolofcostume.
Alex’s bursary is supported by the Capri Holdings Corporate Foundation.
Alex said: “With the support of a Heritage Crafts, I am training as a costume maker at the Manchester School of Costume. This, in addition to my existing practice as a hand-embroidery artist, will give me the confidence and connections to work in the UK film and TV industry as an embellisher/maker.”
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Lee Gordon, from London, is a self-taught maker in vitreous enamelling, metalwork and watch assembly. His bursary will fund a comprehensive training programme in watch dial enamelling and metalwork, including weekly studio tuition with Paul and Tamika Ravn, classes with @janemoorejewellery at @theforgespace, portrait enamelling with Gillie Hoyte Byrom and hand engraving with @handengravers.
Lee’s bursary is supported by the Capri Holdings Corporate Foundation.
Lee said: “This funding turns an endangered craft from something I frequent in borrowed workshops into a practice I can sustain, innovate in and share with others.
“It gives me the chance to innovate and refine ideas that would otherwise stay as rough experiments …and to work in a way that respects the limits and strengths of my mental health whilst keeping an endangered practice alive.”
📷 @lgstudio_
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Jasmine Harper-Jones @jasmineharperjones, from East Sussex, has a background in ceramics and glass and currently works as an FE college art and design technician. Her bursary will fund a series of intensive one-to-one training visits with prestige artist Lee Price at @duchesschina1888 in Stoke-on-Trent, focusing on traditional on-glaze painting, raised paste and enamel jewelling.
Jasmine’s bursary is supported by the Dulverton Trust.
Jasmine said: “I am so pleased and feel very fortunate to have received a Heritage Crafts training bursary. This will enable me to continue working with historical Duchess China 1888 works, in the heart of The Potteries, with Prestige Artist Lee Price. I will be able to combine my painting skills with the craft of onglaze decoration and develop our collaborative work.”
📷 @robertwadephotography
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Matthew James @friend_of_lime, from Swansea, runs Gower Limework and is an SPAB Fellow with experience in heritage plastering and traditional building conservation. His bursary will fund an intensive one-week Level 1 course in lead welding and bossing at the @leadsheettrainingacademy, along with essential leadworking toolkits.
Matthew’s bursary is supported by the @ashley_family_foundation_4321.
Matthew said: “It’s an opportunity to turn working with your hands to the next level… with guidance and practice comes confidence.”
