Heritage Crafts has announced that the silver allied trades have been added to its Red List of Endangered Crafts for the first time.
Red List of Endangered Crafts is a bi-annual report listing traditional craft skills in the UK at risk of disappearing.
As a result of this, the Goldsmiths’ Centre and Goldsmiths’ Company are calling on the Government, industry and educators to work together to address the challenges.
The companies have called for an industry-led investment in research to understand the full scale of the skills crisis in the silversmithing and the allied trades, and where the opportunities are.
They also want industry-wide collaboration and a cohesive approach to apprenticeships, training and other routes to support careers in silversmithing and the allied trades.
This could come in the form of new, accessible, well-promoted and well-funded training and development pathways into silversmithing, from Year 9 (ages 13-14) onwards.
Lastly, they have called for government funding for businesses and employers working in the allied trades who want to train and develop people to have careers in the silver allied trades and an industry-wide public awareness campaign to understand how the art and skill of the silver allied trades contribute to British craft, culture, innovation, and design.
Peter Taylor, director of the Goldsmiths’ Centre, said: “The silver allied trades – which incorporates precious metalworking skills such as lost wax casting, wire drawing, buffing and polishing – have today been collectively classified as critically endangered skills for the first time. These precious handmaking skills, dating back to the bronze age, have almost vanished from our school curriculums and higher education programmes in the last decade.
“The craft and art of silversmithing and its allied trades is hidden in plain sight, from the F1 trophies hoisted at races throughout the season, to the teaspoons in our kitchen drawers, the silver jewellery we wear, and the striking sculptures that grace Britain’s train stations and public squares. The hand skills required to create each of these pieces quietly permeate our daily lives, we just don’t realise it.”
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