Arts, Music and Crafts in the UK

By Alison Smith

I knew very little about the world of arts & crafts before I married my husband who is a basket maker. It was like entering a whole new world to me, having worked in banks and the business world for many years.

We moved to West Kilbride, Scotland's Craft Town, where I met many other makers, musicians and artists all trying to eke out a living from their own craft. I came to appreciate their work more and more, and to realise how important it is for us as to support these makers and artists and ensure their crafts are not lost.

As a nation we have become so used to being able to purchase items made in the Far East or in Eastern Europe where wages are considerably lower and hence prices are very low, compared to our level of income. The problem is that when we then see the cost of something handmade in the UK we are completely shocked as to how expensive it is, and dismiss it as too expensive.

I've noticed that there is a certain quality about items handmade here in the UK. To stay in the business of handcrafted goods these days in the UK you have to be really passionate about what you are doing, because there is little money in it so the items they produce are really made with love. They are not being exploited and are usually concerned about the materials they are using. All these things manifest in their work - subtle they may be - but it does make a difference to the 'feel' of the item. It gives the item an attractiveness that items made primarily out of the desire to make money don't have.

We are in the danger of losing so many of our artists, craftsmen and craftswomen, because we value money more than we value aesthetics,. I have a theory that many of today's disillusioned youth could well be budding craftsmen and women, they just don't know it. School is academically biased and if a young person is not academically minded then school may fail them. They may be okay if they come from a art/craft orientated family and get into it that way, but there are few apprenticeships in the craft businesses these days, and many children are put off following their artistic dreams - "because there's no money in it" or you need to "get a proper job". And if we don't show them we value UK handmade products, by buying them, they will never feel there is any worth in it.

A handmade product, made by a UK maker, brings so much more to your home than merely fulfilling its' purpose. Try it and see what I mean.

Alison runs a family basket making business with her husband, in West Kilbride, which is Scotland's Craft Town. A town which won the DTI award of Most Enterprising Place in the UK in 2006.

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