scottish traditional craft
ABOUT
Really Interesting Objects CIC is carrying out new research on Scottish Traditional and Indigenous Craft on behalf of Traditional Arts & Culture Scotland (TRACS), Creative Scotland, Craft Scotland and Museums Galleries Scotland.
Really Interesting Objects CIC is being funded to carry out new research to find out who is making Scottish traditional craft, what they are making, and to find out their views on a new forum for traditional craft and how it could support them and traditional craft in Scotland.
The first survey was carried out by M Stuart in 1994-95 and led to the report Indigenous Crafts: Scotland’s Glorious Obsession In 2016 a new survey was carried out by RIO funded by Creative Scotland which indicated a decrease in makers under the age of 55 and an increase in makers aged 55 or over and highlighted a difficulty in reaching the people with these skills and knowledge.
In 2021 the report Mapping Intangible Cultural Heritage in Scotland by Local Voices researched the current situation with regards to ICH in Scotland with reference to UNESCO's 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of ICH. One of the five domains of the convention is traditional craftsmanship and this report highlighted the current lack of support for traditional craft in Scotland. One of the proposals within this report was to launch a forum for makers and organisations in Scotland's traditional craft sector within TRACS who currently enable forums for traditional storytelling, music and dance.
It is crucial that makers are involved in discussions about this proposed new initiative to voice their views and needs. To ensure this happens RIO is being funded by TRACS, Creative Scotland, Craft Scotland and Museums Galleries Scotland to reach out to makers of traditional crafts in Scotland and ask their views on the forum and what it could do to support them. We are also going to review who is making traditional crafts in Scotland today. The new survey was launched on Friday 26 May 2023 at the What Scots Hae: Intangible Cultural Heritage in Scotland conference in Birnam.
If you make or are involved with traditional crafts please take this survey or get in touch with us. Also help us to spread the word so we can reach as many makers and people with these skills as possible and build a new community to support, grow and promote traditional crafts in Scotland.
Really Interesting Objects CIC is a social enterprise committed to promoting the value of craft and developing a deeper understanding of the art form.