I just heard that I have been shortlisted for the Balvenie/Country Living artisan of the year award. Some of the past winners can be seen on the Balvenie website here http://www.thebalvenie.com/en-gb/art_awards_interview.php There are some wonderful craftspeople represented there and the commitment and passion for their crafts shines out. Since starting to make quaiches a few years ago I have been…
At the Heritage Crafts Association we are delighted that less than six months from our formation we have seen the state of traditional crafts debated in the House of Commons with the Culture Minister answering questions. Speaking at an adjournment debate on Traditional Crafts in the House of Commons this Thursday Barbara Follett said: “We are keen that the rich…
I have been very busy this last week taking a first aid course over the weekend and then teaching a developers spooncarving course which finished today, I shall post pictures soon. Tomorrow I am off to London again representing the Heritage Crafts Association at the first meeting of the working group on National Occupational Standards in Craft. This underpins all…
I just came across this rather nice article written in respect of folk music but change a few names and it could equally well apply to traditional crafts. “In 1931 H.G. Wells wrote “In England we have come to rely upon a comfortable time-lag of fifty years or a century, intervening between the perception that something ought to be done…
Just came across this from a design conference Nicola attended in Barcelona in 2003, I liked it and thought I would share it. “Techné is Greek for “craft” and “art” and is the term that Aristotle used in theorising knowledge, to refer to the third form of knowledge in his classification of sciences. Now understood as mere skill belonging to…
I love carved wooden bowls. In Scandinavia there is a long tradition of bowl carving and it is commonly taught as a green woodworking course. What could be nicer than over a few days hewing a gorgeous wooden bowl from a log and then having it to use at home for many years to come. Whilst in Germany I carved…
I have finally sorted the pictures from my trip to Germany a couple of weeks ago. We stayed with Michail and Katy Schutte greenwoodworkers, spent time exchanging skills and touring local sites looking at arts and crafts and generally being inspired. Michail is an incredibly competent greenwoodworker with many skills only one of which is a growing competence at turning…
Yesterday was the grand launch of the craft blueprint, a document which we hope will help direct training in the craft sector over coming years. The event took place on the terrace at the House of Lords that’s the little marquee bottom left in this picture. The document is available to download here Inside it looks like this and it’s…
I just checked the blog and see the counter has popped over 50,000 views, quite amazing since I only added it 6 month or so ago. Anyway I thought it was time to reward my regular readers with a little giveaway. Today I have been turning nice sycamore porringers, the shape of this one but they will finish the same…
Whilst I was away in Germany last week my MP Tom Levitt visited Mike Turnock the country’s last sievemaker. More info on Tom’s website here After the visit Tom wrote to me saying that he is going to apply for an adjournment debate on the conservation of heritage craft skills. These are allocated by ballot so there is no guarantee…
