Dying craft Master plan
SOME sobering statistics confront us at the start of THE PRINCE’S MASTER CRAFTERS:THE NEXT GENERATION, starting tonight on Sky Arts (8pm). “This year alone in the UK, four heritage crafts were declared extinct,” announces host Jim Moir, “and a further 56 critically endangered.”
Worrying stuff indeed.
But which are the dead or dying crafts to which Jim refers?
While he does offer some fine examples of those that survive, at least for now – such as basket weaving, kilt making, blacksmithing, clock building, glass blowing and glove making – he doesn’t offer much detail on those that have gone, or are close to going.
And while I genuinely wouldn’t want to make light of the situation, I’d still like to know which ones they are, wouldn’t you?
Good, I’m glad you’ve said that, because, moments after he’s given us those stats, I pause my preview of this programme to embark on a little light research.
And it does prove quite revealing.According to the website heritagecrafts.org.uk, the latest four crafts to be classified as extinct are gold beating, mould and deckle making, lacrosse stick making and – the one that does stand out for me – cricket ball making.
Among those classified as critically endangered are the making of clay pipes, glass eyes and spinning wheels.
Make of that what you will. You see, one of the many unfortunate side effects of the last couple of years is that I’ve become horribly suspicious of bare statistics.Whatever subject they refer to, I want to see the full picture, not just the bits someone chooses to present me with.
I call this unfortunate because it makes me approach a series such as this with a degree of scepticism it really doesn’t deserve.
There clearly are many crafts it would be desperately sad for us to lose, and the programme’s objective – putting six very gifted young amateurs on a multi-craft foundation course, at the end of which they’ll each create a work for the Prince ofWales himself – is a tremendous one.
But, playing devil’s advocate just a wee bit, there’ll always be crafts that cease to serve a purpose, as has been the case since the Stone Age, and it does us no favours at all not to acknowledge this.
Indeed, isn’t the best way to focus on preserving precious skills to recognise when others have had their day?
“Half the battle,” says Charles, “is how do we save the critically endangered crafts?”
Would it do him any harm to add: “However if you’re looking to pay the bills and feed your family, it may be best to give up the dream of making ear trumpets for a living…”?