Heritage crafts, also known as traditional craftsmanship, refers to artisan skills and products that draw on cultural traditions of regions and communities and are passed down for generations as a part of local cultural heritage. Examples include handloom weaving, hand embroidery or shoe and boot last making. Heritage crafts fall under the protection of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which recognizes that “the processes of globalization and social transformation, alongside the conditions they create for renewed dialogue among communities, also give rise, as does the phenomenon of intolerance, to grave threats of deterioration, disappearance and destruction of the intangible cultural heritage, in particular owing to a lack of resources for safeguarding such heritage”.(4) The Heritage Crafts Association (HCA) based in the UK offers one example of advocacy, support and promotion of heritage craft skills. The HCA’s annual Red List of Endangered Crafts maps and assesses the viability of heritage crafts in the UK to both raise awareness and also ensure that their diversity is sustained for future generations. The issues that endanger heritage crafts worldwide include, but are not limited to, aging of master craftspeople, lack of apprenticeship schemes, and market competition from cheaper products.(1-7)
HERITAGE CRAFTS
