Language matters. The word ‘craft’ has often been associated with something homespun, but more recently it has denoted expertise and experience instead. It’s evident in the way people talk about visiting a brewery, having a suit made or investing in beautiful knives – there’s a resurgent interest in skill and an appreciation of process and quality. This is good news.
It’s a marked shift from 25 years ago, when I set up my business, Soane Britain, in an effort to preserve skills that were in jeopardy. Back then, people were bemused – they felt it was a strange time to be establishing a business producing objects exclusively in the UK. Over the previous decades, Britain and many other industrialised nations had seen a huge shift away from small-scale local production, as costs inflated and so much manufacturing was offshored to lower income countries.
I felt there was an urgent need for people to understand the importance and value of craftsmanship. I also believed there was a market for well-made, long-lasting furniture, lighting, fabrics and wallpaper, so I embarked on a road trip to meet makers – blacksmiths, cabinetmakers, upholsterers, silversmiths and glassblowers – across the UK. The more workshops I visited, the more I heard makers saying they couldn’t find apprentices and that skills were dying out after three or four generations.