Videos - the last clog maker in England

[AndyT]

Here's something I spotted on Sawmill Creek, ideal for when there's nothing on the TV.

Jeremy Atkinson is the last of the traditional cloggers making bespoke clogs in England.

This link will take you to a short introduction to him and his work: http://vimeo.com/48955111

If you like that, there are six more videos (all well shot in high definition) showing how he makes his clogs. Ok, some of it is leatherwork, but the shots of his stock knife slicing through a chunk of sycamore are amazing. A wonderful combination of materials, tools and skill.

Other videos here: http://vimeo.com/channels/artisan/videos.

Enjoy!

 

[Cheshirechappie]

He's not the last. Walkley's of Hebden Bridge are still in business - www.clogs.co.uk

 

[zb1]

Yes but everyone knows that Yorkshire is NOT in England. Just ask any man with a flat cap and a whippet.





Editorial note: Humour

 

[AndyT]

He's not the last. Walkley's of Hebden Bridge are still in business - http://www.clogs.co.uk

Having looked closely at the websites, Walkley's do say their clogs are hand-made - which I'm not disputing - but say on their history page " Walkey Clogs still uses the old machines for turning the wooden clog soles, and manufacturing the irons. The clog making skills used are those skills that have been passed down from generations of Walkley Clogs clog makers. "

So not quite the same thing - but it's nice to see that the North is still different and distinctive!

 

[matthewwh]

He makes a very valid point about support for crafts though.

We have the arts council and millions in lottery money being fed into people who make beautiful things with no function, but as soon as the thing being made serves a purpose it becomes a craft and they are completely on their own.

Bonkers!

 

[Grahamshed]

We have the arts council and millions in lottery money being fed into people who make beautiful things with no function, but as soon as the thing being made serves a purpose it becomes a craft and they are completely on their own.

Bonkers!

+1
Some of these old crafts serve a debatable purpose but should be kept alive if only for historical education purposes.

 

[AndyT]

Interesting point - there is an organisation called the Crafts Council, who are funded by the Arts Council. According to their website, (http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/) they do all the things you'd expect them to do, to promote and help craftspeople in England.

Perhaps they need to raise their profile a bit!

Their website has a directory of craftspeople across a wide range of disciplines - but nothing listed under the keyword 'clog'.

 

[matthewwh]

If you google 'arts council funding' and craft council funding' It doesn't take long to figure out that it's on a rather different scale:

Arts Council dishing out 7 figure wedges annually:
"The Royal Opera House, for example, got £26.3m in the 2011/12 settlement. The Southbank Centre got £19.3m. The National Theatre got £18.3m."

Crafts council clubbing together with other organisations to find a five figure number they can share between five museums to encourage them to have exhibits that have been made by hand.
"The Art Fund and the Crafts Council have announced the five museums which have successfully won a share of £75,000"

It's comical amounts of money and grossly midirected (walk through any museum anywhere and find me some objects that haven't been handmade...!)

Divide £26.3m into apprenticeship sized chunks and you can get one helluva a lot of youngsters into jobs, and even those who don't end up working in the crafts will have an understanding of what a days graft actually means. So even the falldown from the process is eminently more employable than the mooching, kerb kicking raw materials.

Opera is important, but do the people who enjoy it actually need for it to be subsidised to that extent by the government, or could they perhaps afford to stump up as much as it would cost to see a football match?

At the Royal Opera House 40% of the tickets are under £40. Some tickets cost at little as £4.
If you want to see an Arsenal game of any significance, some tickets cost at little as £62.

 

[AndyT]

Well said Matthew!

Was it only last year that we were treated to a budget speech where the chancellor of the exchequer said he wanted

" the words 'Made in Britain', 'Created in Britain', 'Designed in Britain', 'Invented in Britain' to drive our nation forward – a Britain carried aloft by the march of the makers" ?

Perhaps the march can't start till they've all got some sturdy footwear!

BUT, lurching back onto woodwork for a moment, do have a look at the way he steers the end of the knife at the same time as he steers the clog sole, to make long complicated cuts moving on x, y and z axes in a single motion. I do like that!