Do you love our craft?

[yetloh]

It seems unlikely that you don't if you are a mwmbwr of this forum, in which case you may be alarmed or even outraged to hear that the Government is proposing to reclassify craft activities as "non-creative". This re-classification relates to the counting of craft activities in the measurement of the economic value of the creative industries. The craft world is up in arms about this on the basis of “what doesn’t get counted doesn’t count”. The issues are well explained here http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture-p...g/2013/may/07/crafts-creative-industries-dcms. There is also a lot of material on the Department of Culture Media and Sport (which is responsible for this lunacy) website here http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/49537 but that does of course very much give the government view. How this will affect crafts people is difficult to answer but some of the obvious dangers are:

1. By excluding crafts activity the size of the UK’s creative sector will appear smaller than is really the case and its importance will therefore be undervalued.

2. We all know that funding and other types of support are directly related to perceived importance. Whatever the DCMS say, when the chips are down, if you are not in the statistics you are likely to be left out of consultations, grants etc. and other vital support.

3. Underestimating the importance of crafts can only worsen the already parlous state of craft education.

If you agree with me that these changes should be vigorously opposed please register your oppostion by signing up to the HM Government e petition here http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/49537. It takes only a few seconds to do.

Jim

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Hasn't this one already been done?

 

[Jelly]

Yeah, been done once already. It's also arguable how much of woodworking is a craft... Bench Joinery, Fine Furniture and such is already classified under "Manufacturing and Process Industries" and then Site Joinery and Carpentry are "Construction"; Once you take those away, I'm not sure if there's actually a significant contribution to the economy from the remaining specialisms, they're closer to things that should be taken care of by the Arts Council than the DfTI...

 

[Jacob]

Craft, design, "the arts", are fundamental to almost everything we do, not only quality of life but also practicalities affecting the economy.
We should resist the dumbing down of so many aspects of life.

 

[Baldhead]

Craft, design, "the arts", are fundamental to almost everything we do, not only quality of life but also practicalities affecting the economy.
We should resist the dumbing down of so many aspects of life.

+1

BH

 

[Jacob]

.......Once you take those away, I'm not sure if there's actually a significant contribution to the economy from the remaining specialisms, they're closer to things that should be taken care of by the Arts Council than the DfTI...

That's a very old fashioned view.
The Bauhaus was all about bringing arts, crafts, industry, architecture, together and was an astonishing success and still a major influence even now 80 years later in spite of it's short life. We need more of that and less of the divisiveness and lack of imagination epitomised by Gove and his dull party. They really are trying to turn the clock back a long way!
In any case we do not work to support "the economy" - it's the other way around, the economy is supposed to support us.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Supposed to...!

 

[No skills]

Missed this the first time somehow, now signed - not usually one for petitions but I feel quite strongly on this.

Theres little enough education about craft skills and work as is without having the lot swept under the carpet, another govenment step to breed a nation of chair sitting button pushers.

 

[Jelly]

.......Once you take those away, I'm not sure if there's actually a significant contribution to the economy from the remaining specialisms, they're closer to things that should be taken care of by the Arts Council than the DfTI...

That's a very old fashioned view.
The Bauhaus was all about bringing arts, crafts, industry, architecture, together and was an astonishing success and still a major influence even now 80 years later in spite of it's short life. We need more of that and less of the divisiveness and lack of imagination epitomised by Gove and his dull party. They really are trying to turn the clock back a long way!
In any case we do not work to support "the economy" - it's the other way around, the economy is supposed to support us.

At the end of the day, whatever group the government decides to put things like turning, carving, and veneer work (Marquetry, Inlay and Intarsia) are put into commercially, they're going to be drowned out by the voices of much bigger concerns... However, if you treat them as an artform*, then they'd actually be some of the most widespread and commercially successful.

The question is what matters more the words "Creative" and "Craft" or finding a path that maximizes the future of these niche skills. In making this consultation the government has made it clear that it doesn't see these crafts as being commercially important (nor are they a good fit for the 'creative industries'**), so perhaps we'd be better to instead emphasize their cultural importance.

A for the Bauhaus, that's neither here nor there for me... as a school of design it's given us a lot of interesting and beautiful things (and a number of buildings which apologies to Dylan Thomas) are lovely in their uglyness). However I'm not aware that it ever penetrated that far into industry and with more and more facets of the genesis of physical products becoming automated and product designs streamlined to fit the production approaches that make it most profitable; I'm not convinced that we could have a successful intersection of craft and art with the high output, low margin paradigm which now prevails in manufacturing...

"You can't stop what's coming, it ain't all waiting on you. That's vanity" - C. McCarthy

*In my mind, it's not exactly a stretch to consider them as such.
**Which create almost nothing physical anymore, another disconnect from the crafts of old.

 

[dunbarhamlin]

Given the rather peculiar choices which make the bulk of the category, I can't see that any truly creative occupation comfortably fits in the category.

 

[Jacob]

....
A for the Bauhaus, that's neither here nor there for me... as a school of design it's given us a lot of interesting and beautiful things (and a number of buildings which apologies to Dylan Thomas) are lovely in their uglyness). However I'm not aware that it ever penetrated that far into industry and with more and more facets of the genesis of physical products becoming automated and product designs streamlined to fit the production approaches that make it most profitable; I'm not convinced that we could have a successful intersection of craft and art with the high output, low margin paradigm which now prevails in manufacturing.......

Jelly you need to get up to speed with design history!
"Twentieth Century Design" (J Woodham) would be good starter but there are plenty of others. I've just been reading Christopher Frayling's "On Craftsmanship" which is also a goodun but a bit off mainstream.
You will soon find why the Bauhaus is so important. A few trips to the V&A would help.
I think you have a very narrow view of what constitutes craft and art - filling in the gaps could be an interesting and enjoyable experience for you.

 

[Jelly]

I think you have a very narrow view of what constitutes craft and art - filling in the gaps could be an interesting and enjoyable experience for you.

Possibly, though by a traditional definition, few crafts remain; thanks to the division of labour, the spread of mechanisation and (for certain definitions of what constitutes craft activity and a craftsman is) the lack of access to the means of production.

There are many job roles and trades which are no-longer strictly speaking craft activities, but where a half decent "skilled man" remains highly skilled and is observing the same care and attention to detail as a "craftsman" of old*... And their are roles which have always been intrinsically tied to industrialization but which demand a great deal of craftsmanship... Tool and Die Makers and Patternmakers being the most obvious.

I would agree that I do need to fill the gaps in my knowledge, as despite my love of making things and working with my hands I come from a heavily industrialized background and training; which probably gives me a rather different slant on all this.