Craft status
The Heritage Crafts Red List
Drawing on the conservation status system used by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List and the Rare Breeds Survival Trust Watchlist, Heritage Crafts uses a system of four categories of risk to assess the viability of heritage crafts. A heritage craft is considered to be viable if there are sufficient craftspeople to transmit the craft skills to the next generation.
Extinct in the UK
Crafts classified as ‘extirpated’ or ‘locally extinct’ are those which are no longer practised in the UK. For the purposes of this research, this category only includes crafts which have become extinct in the past generation.
Critically Endangered
Crafts classified as ‘critically endangered’ are those at serious risk of no longer being practised in the UK. They may include crafts with a shrinking base of craftspeople, crafts with limited training opportunities, crafts with low financial viability, or crafts where there is no mechanism to pass on the skills and knowledge.
Endangered
Crafts classified as ‘endangered’ are those which currently have sufficient craftspeople to transmit the craft skills to the next generation, but for which there are serious concerns about their ongoing viability. This may include crafts with a shrinking market share, an ageing demographic or crafts with a declining number of practitioners.
Currently Viable Crafts
Crafts classified as ‘currently viable’ are those which are in a healthy state and have sufficient craftspeople to transmit the craft skills to the next generation. They may include crafts with a large market share, widely popular crafts, or crafts with a strong local presence. A classification of ‘currently viable’ does not mean that the craft is risk-free or without issues affecting its future sustainability/viability.
Heritage Crafts Inventory
The 2025 edition of the Red List of Endangered Crafts marks a significant evolution in how we understand and safeguard traditional crafts.
This year, we introduce the Heritage Craft Inventory – a new, inclusive framework that ensures all heritage crafts, regardless of their current status, have a place where they are recognised and valued under one umbrella. This expanded approach allows us to shine a light not only on endangered and critically endangered crafts, but also on those that are resurgent, culturally distinctive, or rooted in specific communities and regions. It reflects the dynamic landscape of craft today – one that is constantly evolving and shaped by both challenges and opportunities.
Culturally distinctive crafts
Crafts designated as ‘culturally distinctive’ might have a broad uptake across the UK, but hold a particular significance for a defined community of practice, whether that is geographic, cultural, ethnic or religious. Those that are also on the Red List are known as ‘crafts in need of cultural safeguarding’.
- Canal art and boat painting (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Cornish hedging (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Fair Isle Knitting
- Fair Isle straw back chair making (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Fairground art (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Gansey knitting
- Harris tweed weaving
- Islamic calligraphy
- Northern Isles basket making (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Orkney chair making (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Petrakivka (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Pysanky (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Sgian dubh and dirk making (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Shetland lace knitting
- Shinty caman making
- Sofrut calligraphy
- Sporran making (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Thatching (Irish vernacular) (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Thatching (Scottish vernacular) (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Thatching (Welsh vernacular) (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Vardo and living wagon crafts (craft for cultural safeguarding)
- Welsh double cloth weaving (craft for cultural safeguarding)
Resurgent crafts
Crafts designated as ‘resurgent’ are currently experiencing a positive trajectory as a result of an upswing in new entrants. Just because a craft is considered resurgent does not mean that it cannot also be endangered, but rather that its decline has started to reverse and that its situation is likely to continue improving.
Latest Red List stories
Craft skills remain under threat with 20 new additions to the Red List of Endangered Crafts
Nine more grants to help save endangered crafts
Craft skills under threat with 17 additions to the Red List of Endangered Crafts
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Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Joanne Kelly @jokellyart, from Merseyside, holds a Master’s degree in Art and Politics and is a self-taught banner maker with work held in the Working Class Movement Library collection. Her bursary will fund a twelve-week, one-to-one apprenticeship with renowned contemporary trade union banner maker Ed Hall.
Joanne’s bursary is funded by the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation.
Joanne said: “I am absolutely beaming with pride to begin my apprenticeship with Ed Hall, renowned contemporary banner maker. I have been totally in awe of Ed’s extensive legacy in this craft and his solidarity with union workers. Since Ed has already been so generous with his time towards me, I am thrilled to have secured this funding to finance his tutelage so that I can continue learning from him as I pursue my own career in banner making.”
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Jake Mann @mj.leatherwork, from Gloucestershire, holds City&Guilds qualifications in bridle, saddle and harness making from Capel Manor College. His bursary will fund advanced saddlery, harness and bridle training modules across the @walsallleatherskillscentre and the Saddlery Training Centre in Salisbury.
Jake’s bursary is supported by the Dulverton Trust.
Jake said: “Securing this funding means a great deal as I am just building my business. This will help fund me to further my training and myself in leatherwork and saddlery.”
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Shirley Nelson @shirleynelsonjewellery, from London, holds an Intermediate Jewellery Certificate from Morley College and runs her own jewellery business. Her bursary will fund eight days of one-to-one home tuition with award-winning enameller @connelly.linda, developing advanced wet pack, engraving and cloisonné techniques.
Shirley’s bursary is supported by the Capri Holdings Corporate Foundation.
Shirley said: “I’m thrilled to be offered a Heritage Craft bursary! It will allow me to learn the fundamentals of enamelling and elevate my craft skills under the tutelage of Linda Connelly, a true expert.”
📷 @julietsheath
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Isobel Blackburn @isobel_blackburn_costume, from Penarth, recently completed a Masters in costume design and construction, developing a strong passion for hand sewing and historical costume making. Her bursary will fund bespoke one-to-one training with professional costume maker Veronica Petersson to master traditional tailoring techniques and full suit construction.
Isobel’s bursary is supported by the Ashley Family Foundation.
Isobel said: “I’m so excited to have the opportunity of pursuing further training in tailoring thanks to the Heritage Crafts bursary. I came to costume making as a career change to pursue something I’m passionate about, and through doing so have discovered a love for tailoring and historical making. Having this opportunity of one-to-one training is going to help me to grow and refine my skillset, something I just wouldn’t be able to do to the same quality without the help of Heritage Crafts and the Ashley Family Foundation.”
Over 35 posts we are profiling the recipients of our latest round of training bursaries.
Viola Prokopova, from Middlesex, represents the eighth generation of violin makers in her family and has studied violin making both in the family workshop and in the Czech Republic. Her bursary will fund her first-year tuition fees on the Fundamentals of Violin Making programme at the @newark_school_of_violin_making.
Viola’s bursary is supported by the Dulverton Trust.
Viola said: “Attending Newark School of Violin Making has been my dream for over two years. Heritage Crafts and teh Dulverton Trust have helped make it a reality.”
This September saw the presentation of the inaugural Lady Mayor’s Livery Apprentice Awards to celebrate twelve outstanding apprentices across the City’s historic Livery Companies, as part of her Heritage Crafts Taskforce.
Hayden Mackenzie @studiohaydenmackenzie, upholsterer, was nominated by the @theupholdersliverycompany.
Hayden Mackenzie is an upholsterer and textile designer who brings a unique blend of traditional craftsmanship and vibrant contemporary design to his practice. As the founder of Studio Hayden Mackenzie, he specialises in bespoke upholstery alongside hand screen-printing and digital pattern design tailored for luxury interior fabrics. His high-end interior collection ‘The Macaroni Club’ draws inspiration from the flamboyance of the Grand Tour to celebrate early icons of queer style. Hayden’s keen eye for detail, worksmanship and respect for historical upholstery, has seen him work sympathetically on the Royal Collection’s upholstered furniture.
Congratulations to all the winners and to former Heritage Crafts Chair Patricia Lovett MBE and Richard Hefford-Hobbs for organising the awards.
Five-day Ceramic Painting Masterclass with Lee Price @ukceramicartist at @duchesschina1888 – supported by @goldsmithsfoundation. 🎨
📍 Where: Duchess China 1888, Uttoxeter Rd, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent ST3 1PB
⏰ When: 7 to 11 December 2026, 10am to 4pm each day with a lunch break (lunch provided)
💰 Cost: £300 (three free bursary places available for those from under-represented communities or facing financial hardship – subject to availability)
✍️ Application deadline: Sunday 1 November 2026
Join prestige artist Lee Price for a five-day intensive course on the art and endangered craft of ceramic painting to create a masterpiece.
With close to forty years of experience holding the mantle of decorative ceramic heritage, Lee is one of the unsung heroes of British craft. He works out of Duchess China 1888, one of the few remaining producers of fine bone china in the UK, and home to a wealth of knowledge, experience and skill at the heart of the historic Potteries in Longton.
At the end of the course, participants will have learned the principles of ceramic painting and will take away their own hand-finished piece, an original Duchess China 1888 eight-inch plate with a hand-painted centre, three side panels and raised paste gold sprays on a black border.
This course is not intended as an ‘experience’; it is for working practitioners who intend to incorporate these skills into their ceramics practice.
To ensure equitable access to this vital training opportunity, we are providing three free bursary places for individuals from under-represented communities or facing financial hardship – subject to availability.
Please note, places will be allocated based on suitability. Please fill in the application form and Heritage Crafts will contact you with news of whether you have been accepted onto the course.
📲 For more details and to apply, please visit the linktr.ee in our bio or https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/our-stories/ceramicpaintingmasterclass/.
#matchMAKER opportunity!
Trainee Stained Glass Conservator
Deadline: 2 November 2026, noon
Where: York
The York Glaziers Trust is seeking to recruit a trainee stained glass conservator to join its team.
This is an exciting opportunity for someone with a strong interest in traditional craft skills and the heritage sector, a passion for detail and a commitment to excellence. You will train alongside a team of sector leaders in stained glass craft and conservation, working in and around the magnificent setting of York Minster, with the chance to work at other historic sites throughout the UK, including the University of Oxford and Lincoln’s Inn, London.
As a member of a key partner in the York Minster Centre of Excellence in Heritage Skills and Estate Management you will interact with other heritage trades. You will develop high levels of skill in one of the most competitive and sought-after areas of the historic glass and glazing craft.
Find out more including how to apply at https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/matchmaker.
#matchMAKER is the online platform for work-based training and entry-level employment opportunities hosted by @heritagecrafts and supported by @soanebritain.
