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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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.”
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Reece Gilroy @lug.oles, from London, has been working at an eyewear workshop in East London, developing skills in spectacle making. His bursary will fund a four-day intensive one-to-one course in Nice with master French spectacle maker @sebastiengarnier_lunetier, focusing on traditional metal frame crafting, assembly and finishing to bring the endangered skill back to the UK.
Reece’s bursary is supported by the Newby Trust.
Reece said: “I’m deeply excited to have received this funding, it will hopefully open up some doors for the eyewear community here in Britain, helping us to expand back into metal work. I’m looking forward to being able to bear the torch for the revival of this niche skill and then being able to teach the skill to others within the community.”
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Rachel Holding @curiousgilding, from London, has practised reverse glass gilding and sign painting for six years alongside a professional career as an advertising creative. Her bursary will fund bespoke one-to-one training with master craftsman @by_umberto, developing advanced reverse glass water gilding, acid etching and brilliant cutting.
Rachel’s bursary is supported by the Dulverton Trust.
Rachel said: “I’ve spent years practising reverse glass signpainting and gilding in spare rooms and stolen weekends, falling more in love with it but struggling to develop as fast as I’d like. This funding means I can train with one of the best practitioners in the UK, who will undoubtedly tell me all the things I’ve been doing wrong. And that’s exactly what I’m most looking forward to.”
#matchMAKER opportunity!
Saddle Repair Technician
Where: Walsall, West Midlands
Aviar Saddles is seeking a Repair Technician.
Prospective candidates will possess good hand eye coordination and be handy with the use of tools in building. Previous experience with other craft/skill based work, carpentry, welding and construction is preferred but not required.
They are looking for good, down to earth people with a healthy attitude. Experience is preferred but they will train the right candidate.
Find out more including how to apply at https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/matchmaker.
#matchMAKER is the online platform for work-based training and entry-level employment opportunities hosted by @heritagecrafts and supported by @soanebritain.
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Domal McKenzie @rhubarbncustardco, from London, is an independent menswear designer currently completing a residency at @makerversity. His bursary will fund two intensive courses at the @londonfashioncollege – the Bomber Jacket course with @anthonyprinci.ldn and the Menswear Pattern Cutting Intensive with @patterncutter.
Domal’s bursary is supported by the Capri Holdings Corporate Foundation.
Domal said: “Receiving this bursary gives me the support I need to keep making and developing my craft. It’s a huge boost for my work and where I’m taking it next.”
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Lisa Lloyd @lisalloyddesigns, from Oxfordshire, has a background in fashion, textiles and art lecturing, having trained informally with master upholsterers. Her bursary will fund the 12 Steps to Upholstery Success programme at the Oxford School of Upholstery, alongside specialist short courses in leather upholstery.
Lisa’s bursary is supported by the Dulverton Trust.
Lisa said: “Securing this Heritage Crafts bursary is a turning point in my practice. It gives me the chance to deepen endangered upholstery skills that are essential to preserving Britain’s craft lineage – techniques like horsehair work, stitched edges and hand‑springing British and French that cannot be learned through shortcuts. As a single parent building a sustainable craft career, this support removes barriers and allows me to invest fully in the precision and integrity my work is known for. This bursary doesn’t just strengthen my skills… it strengthens the future of my craft.”
📷 Iris Lloyd
