Over the past  year I have attended a European Think Tank on the Language of Craft where speakers from eight countries discussed the different language and origins of craft in their country.  I have listened to speakers at conferences at North Lands Creative Glass discuss what the term craft means to them and explore issues over the role of design and skill.  And more recently, during a visit to Scotland, Jorunn Veiteberg asked ‘Is this the end of craft?’

The one thing all of these events highlighted is that the word craft is in crisis.  It is misused, misunderstood and misplaced.  In an effort to attract attention and explain what it is, craft has moved around linking itself with design and fine arts or has invented new words and terms to describe the work.   At the same time artists, designers and the media have used the word craft in ways that have consistently diminished its credibility.

Equally as damaging has been the way the term craft is now commonly used to describe the work by people who do handicrafts as a hobby, in other words, ‘a spare time activity carried out for personal amusement’.  This would be inconceivable in any other part of the arts where there is a clear distinction between the amateur and the professional. 

This diminishing and trivialising of craft could be seen in a recent feature on the Culture Show on BBC2.  The message at the beginning was that craft is cool and sexy, using Origin as an example of this re-emergence, but it then moved swiftly on to knitting groups and decorating your home, before reaching the final conclusion that after this trend was over craft would return to being ‘warm and soft and woolly’.  I could show them examples of knitting which is certainly not comforting but extremely challenging.

The problem seems not to be with the actual word craft but what it is now perceived to represent.  It has been associated with the work of the amateur for so long that it is no longer seen by the general public and media as work by serious artists.  Add to this the difficulties over the broad range of work and disciplines encompassed by the term craft and the situation becomes even more complicated.

It is vitally important that we reclaim the word craft.  Although some makers argue it doesn’t matter, it is very important we establish what craft is, so people will buy it, galleries will want to exhibit it and the media will want to write about it.  However, it is a huge challenge. 

How do you think we can stop the word craft being misused and misunderstood?  Start talking about it here.

Tina Rose, craftscotland editor