REVIVING

CRAFT

SKILLS

To introduce this feature,

Philip Venning considers

what we mean by the

term craftsman and

discusses ways in which

craft training is being

improved

When William Morris died 100 years

ago, the future of the building crafts

was perhaps looking a little less gloomy.

He had after all started a revival in their

appreciation. Today it is often said that

there is a shortage of craftsmen. Para-

doxically the blame for this is some-

times placed at the door of Morris, or

more precisely the conservation ap-

proach he promoted through the SPAB,

which, it is said, stifles opportunities

for creative craftsmen to practise their

skill.

This complaint is principally heard

from stone and wood carvers. In a

limited sense this is true: we no longer

recarve all the Mediaeval statues on the

west front of a cathedral. But it goes to

the heart of a much wider issue about

the training of craftsmen and the failure

of many courses to make a distinction

between conservation and traditional

craft skills. That in turn touches on

even bigger questions: what is a

conservation craftsman, what skills and

qualities should he or she possess, and

how do we identify such people?

There has been a welcome increase

in the number of courses which claim

to offer craft training in conservation,

but which in practice concentrate on

executing new work. Most good

historic buildings projects involve a

careful mixture of repair, conservation

and renewal, requiring a broad range

of skills.

Outside the rather specialised area

of what we might call ‘high’ craft, in

some parts of the country there appears

to be a shortage of normal building

contractors capable of carrying out

good, traditional repair work to

ordinary historic buildings. This is

where Conservation Officers so often

face the biggest problems and where

they already play an important, though

unofficial, educational role.

Whether a man ribbon points or

flush points a wall is not normally a

matter of skill: he can usually do either.

It comes down to knowledge and

understanding, perhaps his, perhaps

the client’s, perhaps the architect’s or

surveyor’s The advice given by the

Conservation Officer is critical. In turn

the Conservation Officer needs to know

how to judge good practice - a tall

order. We only hope that more local

authorities will be able to send staff on

the SPAB six day courses (which always

include a number of craftsmen) and

other practically based ones.

Much of it depends on attitude and

approach. We know from experience

that many tradesmen have the potential

for good repair work. Plenty of skilled

carpenters, given a chance to try it for

the first time, quickly discover that

repairing an historic widow, for

example, is perfectly within their

capabilities. We have probably all been

to building sites where an initially

sceptical contractor has been forced to

try something new - lime plastering

perhaps - and once he’s got the hang of

it has acquired the zeal of the convert.

It is 18 years since the SPAB held its

first Lime Day and we have been

modestly pleased to see that an

awareness of lime has slowly been

moving out from the arcane inner circle

of specialists to more general builders.

This depends on a greater willingness

of architects, surveyors and diocesan

advisory committees, and indeed local

Robin George and Charles Smith, William

Morris Craft Fellows, trying leadwork for the

first time.

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CONTEXT 50