National Festival of Making – The Red List with Heritage Crafts

Did you know there are some crafts at risk of being extinct in the UK?

Heritage Crafts have just launched a new edition of the Red List, with 20 more crafts at danger of extinction in the UK since that last list was released.

Over the weekend, you’ll be able to meet some of the expert craftspeople practising endangered crafts, gain an insight into their work and understand the importance of passing these skills on.

In this space, you will find demonstrations from:

• Johnathon Read of Ernest Wright Scissors – Scissor-making 
• Lorna Singleton – Swill Basket-making 
• Elizabeth Hippisley-Cox of Eden Stained Glass – Stained Glass
• Tom Frith of the Paper Foundation – Paper-making

The Heritage Crafts Red List of Endangered Crafts, first published in 2017, was the first report of its kind to rank traditional crafts by the likelihood they would survive to the next generation, based on intangible cultural heritage safeguarding principles, led by Heritage Crafts, the only UK UNESCO-accredited NGO working primarily in the domain of traditional craftsmanship.

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.

They are a UNESCO accredited NGO for Intangible Cultural Heritage and advocated for UK ratification of the 2003 UNESCO Convention of the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which was announced by the UK Government in December 2023.