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Craft Sector Profile and Analysis

Craft Sector Profile and Analysis

This briefing note distils information from several sources, to summarise the craft sector’s current economic impact and business profile, updating the Craft Today context section of the Crafts Council’s Strategy and Plan with new information from the 2009 documents published in relation to The Craft Blueprint . Key documents are:

• The Craft Blueprint: Creative & Cultural Skills and The Crafts Council

• Craft Impact and Footprint 2008/2009 : Creative & Cultural Skills (2009)

• Crafts Council Strategy and Plans

• Making It in the 21st Century: Crafts Council

• Making it to Market: Arts Council England


Download analysis to see footnotes for full citations.


Economic Impact

The whole craft sector (contemporary, traditional and heritage crafts, as defined by Creative & Cultural Skills):

• Employs 88,250 people in the UK.
• Makes a £3bn annual contribution to the UK economy, higher than that of the visual arts, cultural heritage or literature sectors.
• Represents 13% of all those employed in the UK’s creative industries.
• Contributes 12% of the sector’s GVA (in comparison with music at 17% and design at 24% ).
• Demonstrates higher employment growth rates than any other creative industries sub-sector (11% between 1997 and 2006 ).

The contemporary craft sector (as defined by the Crafts Council).

• Employs just under half the craft sector: 34,744 contemporary makers work in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• Produces a turnover in excess of £1bn per annum.
• Doubled in size, in terms of value of sales, between 1994 and 2004.

Actual economic impact is likely to be significantly larger than indicated above, as available statistics exclude:

• Crucial elements of the craft sector production cycle (e.g. trade, retail, education).
• Additional direct ways in which craft professionals contribute to the wider creative industries (e.g. in film, theatre and dance, fashion, product design and manufacturing); as well as to other economic sectors (e.g. leisure and tourism).
• The intangible contribution made by contemporary craft as a ‘core creative field’ of the creative economy, i.e. as part of the current cultural milieu which inspires new thinking in other, more economically significant creative industries.
• Wider socio-economic impact: the social and / or community elements of many makers’ work impacts widely on agendas including health and wellbeing, young people and older people, and place-shaping / regeneration / identity.


Business Profile

Strengths and Opportunities:

Innovation through making: The new ideas, processes and capacities for innovation developed through making constitute the contemporary maker’s key business assets and intellectual property, fuelling the development of new products / objects, and of the business overall . Business survival and progression depends on these capabilities being continually reinvigorated throughout the maker’s career, and applied creatively to the marketplace.

Portfolio working: Over one third of contemporary makers operate a pluralistic form of professional practice, applying their making skills, materials knowledge and creativity to a wide range of making-related activities . Whilst this way of working creates management challenges, for many makers the creative dynamic between different types of work is a key impetus to creative and business growth .

Increasing focus on fashion and textiles related disciplines: 34% of contemporary makers work in textiles, 30% in ceramics and 21% in jewellery. The focus of newer businesses (established since 2000) shows the prevalence of textiles and jewellery increasing, together with that of fashion accessories and millinery. At the same time, work in ceramics appears to be declining to some extent, with larger proportional decreases in engagement with wood, stone carving, toy and musical instrument making, lettering and mosaic .

Business growth through collaboration: 87% of all contemporary craft businesses work as sole traders , often grouping and regrouping to meet the needs of different clients and to develop new work. This highly flexible business model, combined with low levels of capital investment and low dependency on extended supply chains, provides some resilience to economic downturn. It also plays a crucial role in enabling innovation, by drawing together disparate yet complementary knowledge and skill sets and by extending core business and creative capabilities.

Strong growth aspirations: 72% of contemporary craft makers report business growth aspirations, and 98% report aspirations to further their professional practice . This sector characteristic reflects the multiple motivations characterizing creative business, which include personal achievement and often also political, social or cultural concerns, alongside financial survival and profit.

Strong market growth potential: Pre-recession research suggested a latent 63% growth potential within the UK market for contemporary craft . Early indications suggest that economic conditions are producing both challenges and opportunities for makers: whilst some markets are slowing, consumers’ reappraisal of how and what they value is maintaining and enhancing opportunities within some market niches. At the same time, new ways of making, communicating and selling digitally are creating new markets and new types of relationship between makers and consumers, on a global scale.


Challenges

Available working capital: Micro-enterprises do not easily attract private finance or benefit from economies of scale. The resulting lack of available working capital can limit business development, and the impact of this can be experienced by makers in terms of their ability to afford suitable workspace and CPD (continuing professional development) . Typically, makers invest time – rather than money – in their businesses, working long hours and on average spending 41 days each year on developing new work. This time investment impacts directly on business turnover, which for 46% of makers is under £10,000 per annum . Enabling makers to overcome barriers to development resulting from limited working capital is therefore a key challenge for sector support agencies.

Diversity: Demographic data indicates a marked lack of diversity in the contemporary craft sector, not only constituting a loss for individuals and the sector, but also inhibiting the innovation which is crucial to the sector’s commercial and creative progression. To summarise the relevant data, contemporary makers are predominantly white (96%), over 40 years of age (73% of makers), female (65%, in comparison to 28% of the UK professional population); and based in one of the three southern regions (56%). In addition, media and leisure habits indicate a predominantly middle class orientation . Improving sector diversity is a key challenge for sector support agencies.

Infrastructure: Because of its relative size, breadth and fragmentation, the contemporary craft sector lacks many of the infrastructures which enable growth in other creative sectors. For example, whilst 70% of makers work from home and 24% experience isolation, only 26% engage with craft networks or organizations. In addition, the lack of retail and critical infrastructures (such as writing and curating) place a unique responsibility on makers to sell direct, which in turn inhibits market engagement for the 45% of makers reporting a dislike of direct selling. Developing infrastructure, leadership and the evidence base to support this work, is an ongoing challenge for the sector.

The productivity gap: Prior to the economic downturn, 56% of contemporary makers reported difficulties in selling their work and 83% reported that production capacity could be increased if demand was stronger . This disconnect between market growth potential and latent production capacity poses a challenge for sector development agencies, increasingly pertinent in the context of economic downturn and shifting consumer trends.

Business support: Generic business training is increasingly common, yet rarely ‘fits’ with creative business models, growth patterns or motivations , or with specific craft sector characteristics such as direct selling, home working and limited available capital. Tailored business support, conversely, is less readily available but can effect real change in overcoming barriers to creative and business growth, for example enabling makers to develop ambition, articulate the value of their work, identify new applications for their creativity, and effectively manage a portfolio career . Increasing the opportunities for makers to access tailored business support – whilst working in partnership to increase the relevance of generic business support for creative businesses – is a further challenge for sector support agencies.

14 July 2009