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Thousands believe Craft Matters

Linda Barker and Michael Eden at the House of Lords

The Crafts Council yesterday (9 March) celebrated the near 6,000 people who have so far signed up to its Craft Matters initiative with an event at the House of Lords hosted by Professor the Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey OBE.

The event launched the website www.craftmatters.org.uk which provides a visual representation of Crafts Matters signatories to date with a ‘heat map’ of the UK showing signatories’ locations and a regularly updated ‘word cloud’ reflecting why people are saying that Craft Matters to them.

Craft Matters was launched in October 2009 to encourage people to stand up and be counted as supporters of contemporary craft and tell us why it is important to them. We know there is great support for craft in the UK with 11% of the population visiting a craft exhibition and 17% participating in a craft activity in 2008/09 (Taking Part survey*) and we want to give those people – and others – the chance to share their individual passion for craft.

Responses to date have come from makers, professionals, collectors and lovers of contemporary craft from across the UK. Signatories include well-known names like long-term supporter Sir Terence Conran, choreographer Siobhan Davies CBE, who is currently collaborating with the 60Ι40 group of contemporary makers, and collector Sir John Tusa, to people who have been helped through illness by participating in craft activity. Recurring themes include the human instinct to make things, craft as a connection between people and cultures, and as an antidote to an increasingly fragmented and fast-paced society. They confirm that people believe that craft is a valuable contributor to the UK’s social, economic and cultural life. These passionate and wide-ranging quotes can be seen at www.craftmatters.org.uk. A representative “Top 20” can be downloaded below.

Guests at the House of Lords included Linda Barker, Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, Sir Terence Conran, Siobhan Davies CBE, Sir Nicholas Goodison, Ed Vaizey MP and many established makers including Mary Butcher, Michael Eden, Gerda Flöckinger CBE, Elizabeth Fritsch CBE, Mo Jupp, Danny Lane, Tracey Rowledge, Julian Stair and Clare Twomey.

Speeches from Professor the Baroness Young of Hornsey OBE, Joanna Foster CBE, Chair of the Crafts Council and Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director of the Crafts Council, highlighted the contribution that craft already makes to the UK’s cultural life and Creative Industries and outlined elements of the Crafts Council’s vision for the future: that craft education will be reinvigorated in our schools, that craft will be seen as a viable career choice for young people and that craft courses at higher education level will continue to be recognised for their economic and academic value.

“Craft is a feisty, independent-minded, sparky, polished gem…. it demands the maker’s time and skill and ……repays through the pleasure of the objects themselves and the knowledge of the time and skill that has produced them…..it is true ethical production.”
Joanna Foster, CBE. Chair, Crafts Council

“…craft is part of the here and now … and if we – and the people who have signed up and continue to sign up to Craft Matters – have their way, it will be a significant part of the future too”
Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director, Crafts Council

In addition to the first viewing of www.craftmatters.org.uk, guests at the launch were also able to see some exciting examples of tangible contemporary craft objects including work by ceramic maker Merete Rasmussen and maker of jewellery and objects Lin Cheung. These works were acquired for the Crafts Council Collection in 2009.