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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This September saw the presentation of the inaugural Lady Mayor’s Livery Apprentice Awards to celebrate twelve outstanding apprentices across the City’s historic Livery Companies, as part of her Heritage Crafts Taskforce.
Victor Perez-Alvarez @martin_alteman, watchmaker, was nominated by the @clockmakerscompany.
Victor started off teaching himself the basic skills of watch servicing, practising on simple watches with only a few components. Following the Clockmakers’ Company Advanced Apprenticeship over 18 months, he has learned to service complex watches with many interacting parts, and is now adept at correcting the distortion of balance springs and manufacturing individual replacement watch parts.
Congratulations to all the winners and to former Heritage Crafts Chair Patricia Lovett MBE and Richard Hefford-Hobbs for organising the awards.
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Gavin Roberts, from Somerset, is an army engineer transitioning to civilian employment who has completed six modules towards his historic building repair qualification. His bursary will fund four remaining @westdeancollege diploma modules covering lime plasters, slate and stone masonry, earthen mortars and wildlife management.
Gavin’s bursary is supported by the Royal British Legion.
Gavin said: “This funding will broaden my practical skills in traditional heritage crafts, including lime plasters and renders, stone and woodwork. As an engineer in heritage building maintenance, it will strengthen my ability to care for historic buildings using traditional methods, while providing an important stepping stone as I transition from the military into a new career in heritage conservation.”
This September saw the presentation of the inaugural Lady Mayor’s Livery Apprentice Awards to celebrate twelve outstanding apprentices across the City’s historic Livery Companies, as part of her Heritage Crafts Taskforce.
Kemi Ajose @kemi_19xx @morenikeji_textiles, textile artist, was nominated by the @haberdasherscompany.
Originally destined to be an athlete, Kemi uses knitwear and textiles to explore identity through colour, pattern and style. Inspired by West African textile traditions and contemporary British fashion, her clothes allow the wearer to express a hybrid identity. Sustainability is at the core of her design process, and all of her garments are handmade using locally-sourced deadstock yarns with zero-waste.
Congratulations to all the winners and to former Heritage Crafts Chair Patricia Lovett MBE and Richard Hefford-Hobbs for organising the awards.
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Rachel Jacobs @racheljacobsstudio, from London, has seven years of experience in library collections and is currently in her second year of the BA in Book and Paper Conservation at @cglartschool. Her bursary will support her tuition fees as she advances her training in historic bookbinding, tear repairs, pigment preparation and paper conservation.
Rachel’s bursary is funded by the Dulverton Trust.
Rachel said: “I’m really grateful to Heritage Crafts for supporting my practice in book and paper conservation and medieval illumination. This opportunity will allow me to focus on developing my craft and creating new work, and I’m really looking forward to being part of a community of craftspeople who are helping to keep traditional skills alive.”
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Chiazam Saint Venit, from Croydon, has completed Level 1 Bespoke Tailoring at @newhamcollege alongside art and design foundation studies. His bursary will fund his tuition for a pattern making course and SEG Awards Level 3 Award in Tailoring at the @fashiontechnologyacademy, as well as the Bespoke Drafting at @thelondonacademyofbespoke, preparing him for a tailoring house apprenticeship.
Chiazam’s bursary is supported by the Capri Holdings Corporate Foundation.
Chiazam said: “Securing this funding is hugely impactful for me. It strengthens my ability to keep developing in my craft and consolidate my practice.”
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Em Mount, from London, has a background in illustration and community kitchen management, currently completing the first year of a heritage masonry diploma. Their bursary will cover the remaining course fees for their second year of study in stonemasonry at the @buildingcraftscollege in London.
Em’s bursary is supported by the Newby Trust.
Em said: “The Heritage Crafts training bursary has enabled me to complete my final year studying heritage banker masonry. I can’t wait to continue learning and getting to work on such interesting pieces. Many thanks for the funding and to the team.”
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Zane Palmer, from Luton, has five years of self-taught experience in jewellery fabrication, casting and CAD through his brand concept @33andco_. His bursary will fund a phased seven-day masterclass programme in micro-pavé, grain setting and advanced stone setting with master diamond setter John Daniels FIPG @diamondsetting4u.
Zane’s bursary is supported by the Capri Holdings Corporate Foundation.
Zane said: “Receiving the Heritage Crafts training bursary is the best news I’ve had all year and marks a true turning point for my career. In an industry where high-level stone setting is notoriously difficult to access, this funding could not have been timed better. It genuinely means the world to me – I feel I’ve finally been given the opportunity to learn directly from a master, refine my technical skills and prove what I can achieve. I am deeply grateful to Heritage Crafts and the Capri Holdings Corporate Foundation for investing in my future.”
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Vitalija Glovackyte @vit_pianoservices, from Manchester, works as a piano technician assistant at the Royal Northern College of Music and runs an independent restoration practice. Her bursary will fund specialist grand piano servicing and one-to-one regulation training with Doug Chapman at the @royalacademyofmusic, alongside a technician masterclass at the @bechstein.official Technicians’ Academy in Germany.
Vitalija’s bursary is supported by the Dulverton Trust.
Vitalija said: “I am incredibly honoured to receive this grant. As I establish and grow my piano restoration business in Manchester, it gives me the opportunity to invest in specialist training that would otherwise have been difficult to access. Learning directly from highly experienced technicians will deepen my skills, refine my craft and help me take the quality of my restoration and servicing work to the next level. I’m incredibly grateful for the support and for the confidence being placed in me at such an important stage in my career.”
