Craft survey set to preserve cultural heritage

A call out has been issued to all Orkney’s traditional craft workers, professional or part time, in an effort to safe guard unique skills and cultural knowledge.

Craft specialists, Really Interesting Objects, have been commissioned to undertake a survey, intended to update a 1994/95 study, and discover what has changed by reaching out to traditional crafts makers and capture information on their traditional craft and skills.

This comes within weeks of the UK-wide body Heritage Crafts releasing its latest list of endangered crafts and at-risk crafts — which includes Orkney chair making, Fair Isle chair making and Northern isles basket making.

The survey is live and open until July 31, 2023, and is aimed at any professional makers as well as people who practise traditional crafts part-time or as a hobby.

It can be found at https://www.scottishindigenouscraft.org/