The UK's Last Traditional Craftsmen.

The UK's Last Traditional Craftsmen

In 2017, the Heritage Crafts Association published a list of ‘Endangered Crafts’, which identified a heritage craft as “a practice which employs manual dexterity and skill and an understanding of traditional materials, design and techniques, and which has been practised for two or more successive generations”.

To highlight some of the people who keep these traditional crafts alive, The Goodlife Centre announced the first-ever Endangered & Rare Crafts weekend in central London. There will be eight heritage workshops celebrating crafts that are either endangered or taught by tutors with rare-to-find skills. It will take place at their studios in Bankside near Tate Modern from on 25-26 April 2020.

England's traditional crafts are in danger of disappearing, according to the few people still practising them. Clog makers, basket weavers and woodturners have practised their skills for generations but the modern world increasingly has few needs for traditional master craftsmen. Can the skills be passed on to the next generation before it is too late?

If they were to disappear, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to recreate the unique skills behind these centuries-old forms of craftsmanship. As makers of Victorian coving made in London with traditional methods, it’s important to preserve these parts of our artisan history.

Whereas some old trades have fewer uses now, such as swilling, or oak basket making, a skill native to the area around Coniston, in Cumbria, some have had some revival. The rise of microbreweries using traditional techniques has also renewed interest in traditional barrel making, reviving the employment of the UK's few remaining coopers.

Let’s hope these skills and others can be passed on to a new generation, and not be lost and forgotten. If you’re looking for traditional plastering and coving for your Victorian home, then get in touch today.