Crafting the future

“Whisper this quietly, but craft … it’s quite cool, you know,” says Grant Gibson, Editor of Crafts Magazine. “For so long regarded as the poor relation to industrial design and fine art, the value of things that have been made by hand is being radically reassessed. Why? Because we increasingly care about where the stuff we buy has come from and how it was made. As the tenets of globalisation come under more intense scrutiny, consumers have grown wary of homogeneity, suspicious of brands created in flashy Soho offices by over-priced marketing agencies, and fed up with PR spin in general. Instead they are paying attention to the provenance of their products, and to the makers who take the time and trouble to get things right. They’re discovering that craft is unspun, not necessarily homespun.”
If this were already the case, the recession has arguably magnified the trend. At a time when we are looking closely at the value of things, contemporary craft is keeping its value and, perhaps, enjoying a renaissance. “We are seeing an interest in investing in craft as something tangible and of long-term value, at a time when other investments appear far more precarious,” says Maureen Bampton, Director or the Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool. “My sense is that people want to buy less but of better quality, and galleries and retailers that reflect this are under less pressure than retailers competing in a more saturated market with high turnover of cheaper stock.”
Sales were strong at the Crafts Council’s recent Collect 2009, with international private collectors and public institutions making significant acquisitions. Clare Beck at the porcelain dealer Adrian Sassoon reported over 40 sales, including a pair of monumental vases by Felicity Aylieff to a US collector, and a large ceramic gourd by Kate Malone to the V&A. The Scottish Gallery made sales for its artists in excess of £100,000, selling to five museum collections as well as private collectors and clients.
Diverse market
Art Fund Collect, a joint initiative by the Crafts Council and The Art Fund, offered museums and galleries a £75,000 pot to buy works for public collections. Funds increased by 50% from £50,000 in 2008. Five institutions across the UK shared the award. Crafts businesses have a natural flexibility born of their size (most are sole traders) and low levels of capital investment. They can respond quickly to fluctuations in market demand. Many work across sectors, supplying fashion businesses, delivering public commissions, making theatre props. Their reliance on a single industry is usually low, in contrast to the relationship between architecture and construction, for example. This portfolio approach provides resilience to consumer trends, and demonstrates a capacity to innovate. Craft makers are well-placed to develop strategies taking advantage of the current weakness of sterling. Often moving into export relatively quickly, craft entrepreneurs are strongly motivated in this area.
 

Word from the studios
We recently interviewed experienced craft makers about their previous and current experiences of recession for the Crafts Council website. Textile artist Ptolemy Mann has been in business for twelve years: “I decided I had to diversify four years ago, before the recession hit. I invented a whole new way of working: architectural colour consultant, a job I didn’t even know existed a few years ago. It’s important to be ambitious and think of the strategies you can adopt to apply the skills you have. The news seems very bad just now, but in some ways this is an inspiring and creative time. As a maker, you are what you do, and the way you feel about your work is very close to the reality, so it’s very important to try and employ certain principles so that you can keep yourself inspired.” Jewellery makers Abbott & Ellwood have shared a workshop since the late 1980s. Ellwood says, “The late 80s was a tricky time, but we were fresh out of college with few commitments and it was a very buoyant time for craft. We were offered lots of exhibitions and did very well, so for us that recession didn’t have much of an impact. I think by covering different bases you reach as wide a market as possible. We have several ranges – figurative brooches, one-off sculptures and work to commission. In the last five years we were selling more of our figurative sculpture for pretty high prices. But we can put more emphasis on brooches if the market changes. What will benefit us is looking towards Europe and America, which we drew back from in the last five years as we were too expensive. With a favourable exchange rate, our prices will now seem reasonable.”
Jane Adam has been a jeweller since the mid 1980s: “At that time, I had to look very carefully at what I was doing. Non-precious jewellery is not something people really need: I had to make them desire it, make them unable to resist. So I started making really intensely decorated work. Those three years were really hard. My three staff went immediately. I brought everything back in-house, did everything myself. Suddenly I was a maker again, which in some ways was quite good. Diversification was vital to getting through that period. Right now, I am looking very carefully at what’s happening. At the moment things are going well. Interestingly, I’m selling more at the high end. It’s easier to sell a necklace or a silver bangle for £500 than a pair of earrings for £100.”
Education impact
Craft faces several challenges, some from the recession, others more endemic. Makers are concerned about the stability of the retail and gallery infrastructure. Increased production costs are seen as a threat, from workshop hire through industrial processes such as glass finishing and polishing, to the cost of components and raw materials. The marginalisation of craft in the school curriculum and the financially driven closure of practice-based courses in Higher Education Institutions are already having a major impact on entry into the sector and the perceived value of a career in craft. Tighter budgets as the government deals with the aftermath of the recession can only exacerbate this. But it is too early, of course, to gauge the long-term impact of recession on the market for contemporary craft. Being excluded from the visual arts bubble of recent years means that it is not now caught up in the current bust. As Bampton says, “Craft will always be an investment in quality, and for this reason I believe will weather the current storms.”