Keeping Traditional Practices Alive

Words by The Coolicon Team

As our lives are increasingly lived in a digital realm, our phone apps offer convenience in all aspects of our everyday life. Timescales between wanting and receiving have dwindled from days to minutes, with obsolescence and disposability hardwired into this all-encompassing new norm. It would be easy to believe that humans no longer value the comforts of tactile qualities, which are only enhanced by the addition of time and traditional craftmanship. 

Both our smartphones and the pursuit of traditional craft practices are about making a connection. Where one focuses on connections to likes and clicks, traditional crafts connect to one’s place within nature, and to oneself. It is about connecting the past to the present, while looking towards the future.

We’d like to share a few stories about artisans we admire who are keeping traditional practices relevant and alive.

In the Vitreous Enamelling craft industry, many skilled craftspeople are approaching retirement age. The passing on of their time-honed skills and years of knowledge is not guaranteed. This is either due to a perceived lack of opportunity or the everyday concerns of running a small business whilst devoting time to upskilling.

Encouraging the younger generation to see traditional crafts as a viable career path, with the time commitment required and not always the highest wages remains a concern. But working with traditional crafts and practice can provide a varied, stimulating and rewarding career. Not something all career paths can claim.

Perhaps the answer lies in cultural and technical relevance. Today we have tools and machines that can emulate many of the mundane tasks that are required but not always the most skilled. This leaves the opportunity to harness modern practices to dedicate time and focus to the skilled and rewarding parts of craft. The skill in craft lies in not just the hand but most importantly the mind.

Gareth Neal is a progressive and collaborative East London design and craft studio. Their work harmoniously unites traditional and digital techniques to create uniquely crafted pieces.

Gareth’s studio produces a range of furniture, as well as limited edition art pieces that embody the progressive and explorative ethos of his studio. This knowledge has led to many collaborations and the development of new working practices and methodologies.

Gareth’s unique approach and embracing of the digital age we live in is rooted in fine craft. Years dedicated to honing his skill at the maker bench paired with his unique insight have developed an honest and original aesthetic.

Find out more about Gareth Neal on their website and Instagram. 

Based in Deptford, South East London, Eleanor designs and samples her work on her peg-and-lag dobby loom. This direct connection to process, design and product enables her to produce some of the finest home textiles at a commercial scale while maintaining a truth to the craft.

Eleanor’s work remains true to century’s of craft vernacular. Those with a keen eye for textile are able to spot the origin of her work as she is able to bring location specific heritage craft into contemporary textiles. The quality of her work in concept and production leads to cherished items that can be used and enjoyed every day. The graceful aging of such products only endears them further to the user and defines memories to be passed from one generation to the next. Just as craft skill is passed from one to the next.

Find out more about Eleanor on her website and Instagram.

Parallels in history:

Looms use cards to input and control their intricate weaving patterns. Originally developed by Charles Babbage in the Victorian days, the same card concept was later used by computing pioneers in the 1950s to input thousands of lines of code into early computers. In a way we’ve come full circle, it seems only natural that computers are now used in craft. 

Originating in the late-18th century, Bone China is still produced in Stoke-on-Trent today, the birthplace of the finest quality pottery you can touch.

With skills and family trade secrets passed down through generations, the potters of today have taken up the mantle, honouring the masters that came before them and allowing this traditional production technique to flourish in today’s contemporary environment.

This is an approach which is also the driving force behind Coolicon Lighting’s Craftsmans™ Collection. For those of us who were brought up in the 70s, Bone China was something your grandparents kept on their sideboard, proudly flourished when greeting guests with a pot of tea and a large plate of Tunnocks tea cakes and caramel wafers (it was Scotland after all). Great memories and a few teeth cavities but not a usual sight in most living rooms today.

With our Craftsmans™ Collection we chose to celebrate the long tradition of producing the finest Bone China in the Potteries. This story has come full circle as Coolicon® once lit the very factories we are proudly producing this collection in. The Craftmans™ Collection fuses classic materials and traditional skills with timeless design to create a unique range of unrivalled quality and workmanship.

By reimagining how the skills of the Stoke-on-Trent craftspersons can be utilised, we’ve created a handmade contemporary lampshade. Its diffused and relaxing light brings the Coolicon© design into an expanding number of relaxed environments, whilst proudly supporting skilled local jobs and small family-owned factories.

The health of traditional craftmanship is passing to new hands and the provision of accessible training routes is of vital importance. The link between theory and practice is just as important, with strong partnerships between practitioners and students. In the meantime Coolicon© Lighting and their contemporaries across numerous creative industries continue to look afresh at new ways to support traditional practices, reinventing and invigorating the past for today.