About
the national charity for heritage crafts
What we do
Heritage Crafts is the national charity for traditional heritage crafts. Working in partnership with Government and key agencies, we provide a focus for craftspeople, groups, societies and guilds, as well as individuals who care about the loss of traditional crafts skills, and work towards a healthy and sustainable framework for the future.
We are a UNESCO accredited NGO for Intangible Cultural Heritage and an official Community Support Hub for the UK Governments’ Living Heritage in the UK inventory, having advocated for UK ratification of the UNESCO Convention of the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2010.
Our Mission
To support and promote heritage crafts as a fundamental part of our living heritage.
We do this through:
- Knowledge – researching the status of heritage crafts and identifying those crafts in decline or in imminent danger of being lost.
- Advocacy – communicating the vital importance of heritage craft skills to the public, Government, key agencies and organisations.
- Safeguarding – ensuring that the highest standard of heritage craft skills are passed from one generation to the next and are recorded for posterity where necessary.
- Support – supporting heritage craftspeople to continue to practice, nurture and pass on their craft.
- Engagement – actively raising awareness and interest in heritage craft skills with the wider public and offering opportunities to engage.
Our Values
Equity and inclusivity
Removing barriers to participation and fostering appreciation of heritage crafts across diverse communities
Credibility and authority
Reflecting the extensive expertise of our heritage craft communities
Collaboration and cooperation
Facilitating connection between makers, supporters and partner organisations
Sustainability and stewardship
Being mindful of the cultural, social, economic and environmental impacts of heritage crafts
Integrity and honesty
Operating openly, accountably and fairly
Continual learning and development
Safeguarding heritage skills by adapting to changing social, cultural and economic contexts
Craft inspiration direct to your inbox
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Our Endangered Crafts Fund at @heritagecrafts is one way we support makers in keeping their skills alive.
As @patternmakers mentioned, it’s more than the financial support, it’s about being part of a community of makers and having access to support. When makers receive funding from us, they have access to our Recipient Circles which are about fostering long-term support with a regular circle meeting once a month.
Applicants who practice an endangered craft can apply for up to £2000 develop their practice. Whether it’s for tools, machinery or for creative way to pass on the knowledge. For example, @patternmakers was able to apply for a large dyeing vat, which helped her to be able to print longer length of fabric, which keeps her practice viable. Look how beautiful her work is on display at this year’s @craftfestival in Bovey Tracey. 😍
When you become a member or donate, this is the sort of work you’re supporting!!
DEADLINE for the next round of applications is 5pm, Friday 16 October 2026.
We have more details on our website under opportunities.
If you’re thinking of applying these are the sorts of things to consider…
Does your idea Implement changes that will ensure the longer-term viability or survival of heritage craft skills, for example:
⭐️developing a new, innovative approach to heritage craft skills;
⭐️investing in more efficient machinery;
⭐️developing new routes to market;
⭐️exploring the use of sustainable alternative materials while maintaining the heritage character of your practice.
Direct and indirect skills transfer, for example:
⭐️taking on a trainee or apprentice;
⭐️preparing to teach courses, including the creation of training materials;
⭐️online or video content to support skills sharing and documentation;
⭐️specialist tools and equipment to facilitate training.
Continuous professional development, for example:
⭐️acquiring the knowledge and skills required to run a successful small business;
⭐️acquiring the advanced craft skills or allied craft skills necessary to make a craft practice more viable, e.g. through a training course or self-directed learning.
Do you know the real story behind the Red List of Endangered Crafts?
We’ve had a few new followers around here and thought it was about time that we tell you about one of our most high-profile projects.
The Red List is not supposed to just be about the shock factor of crafts at risk – it’s about giving makers a framework with which to communicate the value of what they do, and to give the public a space to debate what they collectively want to carry into the future.
There are many makers out there who are so busy trying to do what they do best, they don’t have the time to advocate for themselves, and so the Red List is a way for the whole sector to raise awareness of the wider structural issues that affect the viability of heritage crafts.
One glimmer of hope is that as more people reject AI and turn towards analogue, material and off-screen experiences, they will really appreciate the value of the handmade and the skill that goes with that.
Let’s protect the skill and those who hold them, and enable them to pass it on to the next generation!
#heritagecrafts #endangeredcraft #whatistheredlistofendangeredcrafts #craftUK
Wow! As a small charity we literally do a happy dance every time someone signs up to be a member, donates and chooses to be part of our community. Welcome to all our new followers! We are overwhelmed with gratitude. 20k followers in two days is incredible. 🤯
We have worked hard over the last 16 years to build an argument to protect craft skills as living heritage and none of this would be possible without you. It is truely the community of makers that inform what we do. There’s also the fans and the supporters who are local and across the world, that enable us to continue too. We couldn’t do it without you.
For context, we made a post pretending to do a Netflix documentary, and its success shows that many of you are interested in the work that we do around the Red list of Endangered Crafts. It’s research that we undertake every two years and research for the next edition is just about to start, due to be published nearly next year.
Stay in touch, be part of the community and once again we are so grateful you’ve chosen to follow us.
#redlistofendangeredcrafts #heritagecrafts #make #craft
Behind the scenes of the Netflix documentary trend, which that blew up. We are in awe! Thank you for following us and supporting heritage craft skills. We hope that with so many new faces around here will be able to do so much more to help Heritage Craft in the UK.
We had a person volunteering with us to help with social media and after three months, this was their last day. They suggested that we try out this new Netflix documentary trend while we were at the festival of making and next thing you know, the followers started rolling in. We hope this is a sign that everyone is starting to value craft, making and the handmade. We hope that people now know about the Red List of Endangered Crafts and that we are the authors of it. We also hope that people realise that we aren’t publicly funded which means every Membership or donation helps us to do what we need to do to support Heritage Crafters.
Thank you for your support! We have more details on our website if you would like to get involved.
Many thanks! The Heritage Crafts team 💖
#heritagecraft #redlistofendangeredcrafts #maker #craft #saxophone
Passing on the skills to keep the craft alive, with @heritagecrafts at the @thefestivalofmaking in Blackburn this weekend.
Thank you to all our workshop demonstrators for being so generous with your knowledge and to everyone that came to talk to us, learn about the Red List and took part in a workshop.
We love creating opportunities for makers to demonstrate their work and connect with others.
Thank you to @phillgregson for your wheel spoke making, @fishbone.sycamore for your weaving sessions, @welbyandwright for the encaustic tile making and to @ernestwrightltd for making us all obsessed with your scissors. We loved meeting @vicjay_art, thank you for teaching your corn dollie craft with us.
Anyone reading this should go give them a follow and support their work!
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#heritagecraft #endangeredcraft #redlistofendangeredcrafts #festivalofmaking blackburn
When 50k of you have decide to follow us, we must be doing something right.
When we formed 16 years ago, we could never have imagined to have uncovered so many amazing makers doing incredible things to keep their craft skills alive.
The first Red List was published in 2017 and every two years since then and it’s impacting the public debate more than we could ever have imagined.
We’re about to start work on the 2027 edition – due to be published next May. We rely on makers to help us shape it so do get in touch, share our work and follow for updates.
Thanks for being part of our community and helping to keep the skills alive.
#heritagecrafts #redlistofendangeredcrafts #craft #netflixdocumentary
Day one of @thefestivalofmaking done! Come and join us for day two from 11am to 5pm at Blakey Moor Terrace, Blackburn.
Try your hand at endangered @heritagecrafts at the @thefestivalofmaking this weekend.
12.00pm shave a wheel spoke with Wheelwright @phillgregson
2.30pm try hand weaving with @fishbone.sycamore
4pm learn encaustic tile making with @welbyandwright
