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Crafts CouncilStories

15 makers, artists and designers on what ‘craft’ means to them


ByLaura Snoad

7 July 2020

A misused word?


Laura Snoad

7 July 2020

  • Opinion
  • Crafts magazine

Asabikeshiinh (Dreamcatcher), Rowan Mersh, 2016. Photo: Frankie Pike and Gallery Fumi

We quizzed some leading lights in the craft world and beyond to ask them about their relationship with craft, especially in such an unprecedented climate.

Rowan Mersh, sculptor

‘To me, craft is the celebration of the inherent and often hidden beauty of a material through an artisanal approach to creation.’


  • Rowan Mersh with his work, Pithvava Praegressus. Photo: Camilla Greenwell / Crafts magazine

Melissa Meier, artist

‘Craft, to me, is about having a dream and bringing that vision into existence. It is a form of meditation, exploration, divination, and communion with the materials. Craft is a necessity for a deep and full life, no matter what form it takes.’


Work by Melissa Meier

Ekta Kaul, textile artist

‘Craft is about making with meaning. It enables me to express myself through thread and fabric and to tell stories of place, history and belonging. Stitch connects me to my heritage, especially to my mother and ancestors who embroidered. Craft is about narrating stories, connecting people across borders and generations. Beyond the pure joy of creativity, my stitch practice offers me a contemplative space, comfort, community and connection. Craft is a powerful expression of all that I cherish and being able to practice it is a real privilege.’

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A post shared by Ekta Kaul (@ekta_kaul) on Jul 6, 2020 at 4:24am PDT

Laura Ellen Bacon, sculptor

‘For me, craft is about expressing an energy; the energy in the fingers and body and the energies of the heart and mind. The process of making leads to energetic ideas and I personally am never more alive than when these ideas are forming. They are a kind of fuel for life.’


Sculptor Laura Ellen Bacon. Photo: Matthew Ling

Alice Archer, fashion designer

‘Craft is integral to my work. I have put my knowledge of hand embroidery into my digitally embroidered womenswear. I use digital embroidery software to programme every single stitch and imbue it with the dedication, imperfections and individuality of hand embroidery.

‘During the pandemic I am continuing to work in my studio. The forced isolation and simplicity of lockdown helps me to focus and put my love into my craft. This has enabled me to appreciate even more how meaningful it is to work creatively. At the start of lockdown I bought tapestry needle point cushion sets from John Lewis for my mum and myself. She is making hers in Somerset and I’m making mine in London. Doing this together but from afar is a bonding experience for us during lockdown.’


  • Fashion designer Alice Archer

Junko Mori, artist and metalworker

‘For me, craft is the outputs from my brain through material practice by using my hands – the opposite to inputs such as reading, watching, listening. After more than 20 years of my practice, I am almost experimenting with my own balance between physical and mental state through craft. I have found my own flow through meditative repetition throughout my career.

‘I strongly believe that “tangible” exercise is increasingly more important than ever as we input way more information into our brain without much output. When we output something physically, we learn so much through all our senses. That wide range of stimulation is only way to cultivate our creativity.’


  • Metal artist Junko Mori. Photo: Steve Speller

Ella Bulley, material designer

‘Craft is connection to materials and history. It allows me to form a relationship with substance, then transform it into another state. With craft I become an alchemist creating artefacts of time. Craft also provides insight to the era of making – it’s like a documentation of materials and social encounters at a certain time in history - as found with craft from my home, Ghana. It can form narratives of communities that are often unheard, overlooked or silenced.’

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A post shared by Ella Bulley (@ellabulleystudio) on Jul 2, 2020 at 7:17am PDT

Julian Stocks, glass sculptor

‘It is the etymology of words that stimulates my thinking. When I was at art college I remember looking up “art” in both the Concise Oxford Dictionary and American Heritage Dictionary, and found two very different concepts.

The English definition concentrated on the idea of skill, while the American definition stressed the idea of beauty. I remember thinking that if the compilers of these dictionaries did not agree on a definition of art, why should I worry about the definitions of my practice, This gave me a freedom. I did what I did, for reasons that I could declare, and that was the end of the matter. I would be my own authority.

And for me, craft is synonymous with art, opening the door to an identical territory limited only by human imagination and the physical limitations of materials. So, it is the English emphasis on skill, imaginative or manipulative, that has the greatest charm for me. Something again that we find in our language, whether this is a crafty magician performing some impossible trick, or the Artful Dodger plucking silk handkerchiefs from your pockets.'


Fields of Gold, glass architectural facade in Liverpool, by Julian Stocks

Edmond Byrne, glass artist

‘Craft is the way I articulate my curiosity about glass. I explore through experimenting and play, but to really tease out a material quality or process that I'm interested in, to understand it deeply, craftsmanship and skill are key.’

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A post shared by Edmond Byrne (@edmondbyrneglass) on Mar 10, 2018 at 8:18am PST

Fred Rigby, interior designer

‘To me, craft means handmade creation. This covers every discipline, from pottery to wood work. Whether it’s rough or polished, it’s been created from nothing and by someone’s hands, leaving a unique piece.’

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Fred Rigby Studio (@fredrigbystudio) on Feb 25, 2020 at 11:16pm PST

Lisa Hammond, ceramicist

‘I think craft is often a misused word… To me craft requires skill, constant practice, dedication and focus. It is lifelong learning. Using your hands and acquiring dexterity, learning new skills, solving problems and making things is good for everyone, in my opinion. Gaining practical wisdom throughout life is very underrated.’

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A post shared by Lisa Hammond M.B.E. (@lisahammondpottery) on Jun 24, 2020 at 10:12am PDT

James Shaw, designer

‘Craft is always a slippery word. I feel like there is an established meaning of the word which is about working within a tradition, but as someone whose practice is by its nature exploratory and ranging, I don’t identify with that much.

‘For me the essence of craft is about making and really caring about the results, where it is more than just getting from A to B but being really passionate about whether the outcome matches up to whatever standards you had invented for it. In this way it's about caring about the world because it’s about being conscious of the things we are putting out into it but it also gives a sense of fulfilment which I think can be really helpful for mental health.

‘I spent lockdown in a small studio apartment in Paris having gone for a weekend visit just as regulations came into force and so away from my studio and without any tools or equipment, and during this time I really felt the loss of not being able to make or impact the world around me.

Making gives a tacit knowledge of the material world which I believe is really important for understanding the place we inhabit and for feeling a sense of connection, respect and agency within our environments. For this reason, I believe that making should be a fundamental part of education and something that we should all have access to.’


  • Designer James Shaw. Photo: Thom Atkinson

Keith Harrison, artist

‘Craft is most meaningful to me as a verb rather than a noun, as repeated, cumulative or reductive actions. I see it in others; clay car modellers, bus drivers, tilers and electricians, monumental masons and metal fabricators, musicians and writers, skateboarders and BMX-ers. They make work happen.’


Ecstatic Material, a performance work made in collaboration between Keith Harrison and musician Beatrice Dillon

Benni Allan, architect, EBBA Architects

‘In our practice we are interested in the ideas and processes of making, whether it’s a piece of furniture or a building. Traditionally craft is seen as the activity of making using one’s hands, yet we understand it more generally as way of describing a process of putting things together very carefully. In this sense we describe the qualities of objects, elements and structures appearing like something crafted, which is about understanding the way something is assembled and the time involved in its production. In architecture the use of the word craft usually carries with it an element of additional cost. Our work looks for ways to bring things together using simple inexpensive materials that result in something that could be read and described as craft.’

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A post shared by EBBA ARCHITECTS (@ebbaarchitects) on Sep 18, 2019 at 10:18am PDT

Mark Reddy, artist and maker

‘Making is a creative, therapeutic and meditative necessity. In this strangest of disconnected times, this need has been both reinforced and expanded. Surrounded by nature, the utensils and vessels made from living material have become an expression of our need and connection to locate timeless, universal truths. The reimagining of simple cultural objects which embody a significant narrative bound to the fragile land we walk are reminders of simpler values and desires, which seem to be all too elusive. Making and craft will always remain meaningful, positive ways of being connected to our senses and dignifying the world around us.’


Sculptor Mark Reddy. Photo: Francesca Jones

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