Neon, kilts, cricket bats: artisans gather to shine a light on Britain’s endangered crafts | Craft
[ad_1]
nick Malyon was seduced by neon lighting in the late 1980s while traveling across America. He left home after failing his A-levels and had a disastrous four-year stint as a vintage car salesman in London.
“I was introduced to a sign painter and neon sign maker and it seemed like an alternative way of life to the one I had left behind. Back in the UK I was probably trying to achieve some kind of American dream through training, but I loved the strange alchemy of lighting up a piece of bent glass tubing – the change from nothing to something.’
Malyon’s art is on display this month, during the London Craft Week (LCW), at Vintage Supermarket, a pop-up store in Soho by Merchant & Found that specializes in 20th-century and industrial furniture. His work will represent one of the many endangered crafts on display this year.
“Throughout the ages the crafts have waned and waned; some die but others grow to replace them,’ says Daniel Carpenter, chief executive of Heritage Crafts, the charity which produces the annual red list of endangered skills. “But what we’re seeing now is something different — it’s like an extinction-level event.”
The Heritage Crafts Red List includes grim news for British culture. The manufacture of cricket balls has disappeared in the UK, while cricket bats are on the endangered list, along with the manufacture of kilts and bagpipes. Currach and sporran boat construction are also on the critical list.
Carpenter says competition from low-wage economies overseas is a key factor. “And just the ease of being able to buy things from anywhere in the world without even noticing – without knowing who made them or what conditions they work in.” Just a click of the mouse.”
He says the situation in the UK is worse than in other European countries, but Heritage Crafts has just set up a global organization to monitor the situation. “There is less training support and government funded apprenticeships are very difficult to access in the UK. They are not designed for our sector – which is ironic as apprenticeships were developed by craft guilds in the Middle Ages.’
The work of Scottish kilt maker Graham Bone will feature in LCW’s Craftworks. He retrained on a program offered by the Prince’s Foundation. He was previously a steel worker: “Surprisingly, there are a lot of transferable skills from construction to pattern making – it’s all grids and measurements.”
Bone was shocked to find that traditional kilt production was under threat. “I feel a duty to continue these skills and pass them on to the next generation of artisans in Scotland.”
Papur weaver Felicity Irons, who is also exhibiting at LCW, received a British Empire Medal in 2017 for saving the papur cutting industry in the UK. She was focused on making seating when her fast food supplier, Tom Arnold, died. Arnold’s brother was 70 years old and did not want to take over the trade, even though it had been in his family since 1500. He gave Irons a two-hour training session before she took over.
“But I still get asked if it’s my hobby. Although it is better than it was when I created it – customers would be really rude to me about the prices and I had to stop justifying it. I think it’s amazing that the plants that grow in the river are shipped all over the world – our exports are really strong.”
In June 2024, the UK will ratify the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which means the government is committed to protecting local crafts, social practices, celebrations and rituals. A public register opened in January 2024 for Britons to nominate local traditions for our national list.
after the promotion of the newsletter
“It’s a step forward,” Carpenter said, “but it’s largely symbolic. It remains to be seen how the craft will fare in the UK. I don’t think there will be huge amounts of money – it will be a reallocation of existing funds.”
Although grants are hard to come by, some awards offer cash prizes as well as recognition. The latest winner of the Loewe Foundation Craft Award, an international award, will be announced the same week as the LCW. The award was opened by Jonathan Anderson, creative director of fashion house Loewe.
He is a long-time supporter of crafts and believes that these specialized skills are vital to human life and an important part of the history of our civilization. “People create things: it’s not a second job, it’s an impulse,” Anderson said at last year’s awards ceremony.
Abraham Thomas, curator of modern architecture, design and decorative arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, is one of the judges for this year’s Loewe Prize. He believes that some crafts people adapt to the modern world.
He says: “It is interesting to note that several artists on this year’s shortlist have subverted traditional techniques and incorporated unexpected, recycled or industrial materials. They appear where other materials might be expected – all to challenge craft traditions, legacies and expectations.”
Carpenter also believes that craft is an innate human trait and the loss of these skills goes beyond being a problem for our manufacturing sector or a loss of talent. “We evolved as human beings to be creative,” he said. “So for us to live 24/7 in the digital world is not natural and it can be contributing to the mental health crisis.”
However, Malyon has come to terms with the death of his craft in the UK. “Since the advent of LED in the 2000s, the global neon trade has collapsed. Brexit has made our materials, all imported from Europe, more expensive. I’ve never earned much and I work long hours, but I really enjoy what I do.
“I just wanted to do neon signs, commercially, for some weird reason, so I feel like I’ve been lucky. But when it comes to British craft, I don’t think anyone can stop it from dying.
[ad_2]
