Past events
Beyond Preservation – endangered ceramic skills symposium
This symposium is organised by the Heritage Crafts Association and Ceramic Cultures, Practices and Debates Research Group at Staffordshire University. It is funded by The Pilgrim Trust and supported by Staffordshire University, Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, and...
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The Science of Making – part of London Craft Week
This panel event on 7 October 2021, organised by the HCA and Dr Rebecca Struthers as part of London Craft Week and sponsored by Smith of Derby and The Watch Club, will explore the invaluable and sometimes surprising links between science and making.
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The HCA Red List of Endangered Crafts at Fortnum & Mason
We are delighted to be partnering with Fortnum & Mason for a focus on endangered crafts and the HCA Red List throughout London Craft Week, with displays and demonstrations of scissor making, bee skep making and basketwork furniture making.
read moreSymposium on Endangered Baskets
The HCA and the Basketmakers’ Association held an Endangered Baskets Symposium at the Museum of English rural Life in Reading on 5 October 2019.
Making is Good for You – The Heritage Crafts Association Conference 2019
When the Health Secretary starts to recommend ‘prescriptions’ for art and craft sessions instead of pills, you realise that at last other people are waking up to the value of making.
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Making It! The HCA and QEST at the Worshipful Company of Carpenters
Craftspeople from the Heritage Crafts Association and QEST demonstrated an array of skills with opportunities for visitors to join in at the Carpenters’ Company on 9 May 2018.
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Crafts for the Future – HCA Conference 2018
HCA Patron and ceramics producer Emma Bridgewater was amongst our keynote speakers at our 2018 conference Crafts for the Future, held on 24 March 2018 at the Royal Society of Medicine in London.
read moreThe Texture of Craft – the HCA conference 2017
Kaffe Fassett, worldwide authority on textiles and colour spoke at the Heritage Crafts Association’s conference on Saturday 6 May 2017.
Radcliffe Red List launch
The Heritage Crafts Association and the Radcliffe Trust shone a spotlight on the UK’s most endangered crafts at the prestigious launch of their Red List project at the House of Lords.
A Place for Craft – the HCA Conference 2015
A Place for Craft was the theme for 2015’s conference which was held on Saturday 9th May at the V&A Museum. The conference highlighted the relationship between crafts and location – focusing on those crafts which have developed in particular regions or locations, and why craftspeople have chosen to live and work in areas with a special tie to their craft.
read moreTool Tales – the HCA Conference 2014
We returned home to the roots of traditional craft by going to Carpenters’ Hall, one of the main Livery Companies of the City. Unless you are a Liveryman, you don’t get to see the inside of this beautiful building, and if you like wood, then this was heaven!
read moreManifesto for Making – the HCA Conference 2013
The theme for the third annual HCA conference was ‘Manifesto for Making’. With a fantastic line up of speakers, we asked delegates and speakers to contribute to the Manifesto for Making before and on the day. We asked: Why is Making Important?; Where Should Crafts Be?; How Do We Get There? Most importantly we asked our speakers what making actually means to them at a very personal level, why do they do what they do?
read moreMaking Matters: Marketing Makers 2013
The morning (Making Matters) was spent with key speakers talking about how important craft and making is. The keynote speaker was John Hayes Minister without Portfolio. Lord Cormack, former Chair of the All Party Arts and Heritage Group and HCA Patron, also gave a short talk about the significance of making. This was followed by The Future of Craft – views of Craft Visionaries, chaired by Guy Salter. Where is craft going? What is hot? How should we be pitching our work to target the changing market.
read moreCrafting Publicity training 2012
In September 2012, nearly 50 craftspeople attended HCA’s first business skills workshop, ‘Crafting Publicity’. Following calls made last year at our Skills Forum, for more business support to be made available to those working in traditional crafts, HCA set about gathering together industry professionals who could pass on their knowledge, expertise and tips.
read moreEvolving craft communities – the HCA Conference 2012
The 2012 Heritage Crafts Association conference at the V&A had the theme ‘Evolving Craft Communities’. We are live in exciting times as we can exchange and source information freely across the web. How does this change our craft practice and how does it compare to past practices of passing skills? Is it possible to feel connected to other folk we have never met who live in other continents and what sort of meaning does that bring to our lives? How do we make the best use of changes that are happening and new opportunities available to us?
read moreCraft Skills Forum 2011
On Wednesday 11 May 2011 leaders of the UK craft world came together to discuss issues or craft skills training and how to address them, it was an inspiring and positive day. We had over 100 delegates mostly chairs of the various craft organisations from the weavers spinners and dyers, basketmakers and craft potters to blacksmiths and the Royal College of Needlework.
read moreForum 2010
The Heritage Crafts Association’s first forum for traditional craftspeople took place at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on Tuesday 23 March 2010. The over-subscribed forum was the first chance for those involved with heritage crafts – practitioners and associations alike – to be able to come together and consider the current situation, share problems, and suggest solutions and ways forward.
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