Today, I launch The British Cræft Prize.
A new £60,000 national award for maverick and misfit makers, technologists, designers, and engineers seeking inventions that fuse the deep wisdom of heritage crafts of the past with cutting-edge technologies of the future.
Robots are reviving classical stonemasonry. Origami shapes materials to make clothes that grow. The arts of the past are sculpting AI ceramics.
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞?
The British Cræft Prize will find out.
Technology need not be soulless; craft and beauty must not be killed by AI slop. The ancient power of cræft can save us all.
To learn more, read the launch post. Then share it with the world.
It’s time to cræft.
Thank you to Tyler Cowen and Emergent Ventures at Mercatus Center at George Mason University — as well as Andrew Bennett and Julia Willemyns at the Centre for British Progress for unleashing cræft upon the world. I’m also delighted to be supported by @heritagecrafts — a wonderful organisation dedicated to sustain craft traditions.
Coming soon. Episode 2 — ‘Papermakers of The Lake District’ explores the art of fine paper through the eyes of the @paper.foundation and @jamescropperpaper .
🎥 Full film out this Thursday.
Subscribe to our newsletter and follow @nationofartisans to see it first.
Created by Louis Elton (@louiselton )
Directed by Christian Cargill (@christiancargill and @dalmatianfilms )
Featuring Mark Cropper (@paper.maker ), Mandy Clement, and Tom Frith Powell.
With everyone transfixed by the Artemis Moon mission, few heard the cries of despair coming from the King Charles III Space Station, where the thatched roof is caving in.
Sensing looming doom, its captains and podcræftsmun Tom Ough, Calum Drysdale, and Aeron Laffere put out a procurement tender, but no one could answer the call.
With the great Dunachan Mackenzie of Applecross long dead and today’s thatchers overwhelmed with demand but lacking in apprentices — they were in search of a miracle.
Fortunately, I heard the call. I hopped in the Nation of Artisans LignoSat satellite — crafted by master sashimono joiners in Japan without glue or nails — and catapulted my team of crofters to the KCIII to fix it.
With disaster averted, we sat down for a London Pride, some artisanal space-reared lamb, and a chat for the Anglofuturism podcast.
We covered everything from the £60,000 Cræft Prize to the death of the handmade cricket ball. Strap yourselves in.
You can listen wherever you get your podcasts — or indeed podcræfts.
Today, I share some deep lore behind Nation of Artisans and The British Cræft Prize. In August 2023, I spent some time thinking deeply about the lessons of Cool Britannia and how to vibe one’s way to a better future. The result was a (somewhat) ridiculous piece in UnHerd entitled ‘How to make Britain cool again’.
The article was a wacky review of Tara Isabella Burton’s book Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians and Burberry’s 2023 rebrand. For all its absurdity, it was one of the first bricks in the intellectual edifice that is now the universe-altering mission unfolding before your very eyes. Behold.
Link to newsletter in bio.
Last week, I published a little article for The Progress Post, the Centre for British Progress’s newsletter.
It explains how the British Cræft Prize will save Britain.
Read it on my or the Progress Post’s Substack.
A renaissance man?!
Thank you to @willjhosie for this absurdly kind profile in @countrylifemagazine .
Nation of Artisans's debut in the popular press. Out from the hidden alleys of Substack and into the world.
The crafts of yesterday can be the cutting-edge industries of tomorrow.
For the last two days, I’ve been filming in deepest Cumbria, exploring the craft, science, and industry of papermaking at James Cropper Plc (@jamescropper ) and the Paper Foundation (@paper.foundation ) in Burneside.
Guided by Mark Cropper (@paper.maker ), master papermaker, and filmed by Christian Cargill (@christiancargill ), this will be the second edition of Nation of Artisans’ documentary series, which explores Britain’s most historic and dynamic crafts.
Following the high luxury of Gaziano & Girling in Shoemakers of Northamptonshire, James Cropper and the Paper Foundation are different beasts.
The breadth of applications for the craft of paper is truly astounding. In the morning, we examined a handmade, special-edition watermarked sheet produced for a folio of T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land; in the afternoon, ultra-lightweight fibre sheets designed to protect planes and wind turbines from lightning.
Paper is astonishing. Film to follow.
COMING SOON
The trailer for the first Nation of Artisans documentary is here.
Episode 1 — Shoemakers of Northamptonshire spotlights trailblazing shoemaker Gaziano & Girling (@gazianogirling ).
This will be the first of many Nation of Artisans documentaries celebrating Britain’s most remarkable makers and manufacturers.
🎥 Full film out later in October.
Follow @nationofartisans to watch the premiere.
Created by Louis Elton (@louiselton )
Directed by Christian Cargill (@christiancargill )
Featuring
David Ludlow
Tony Gaziano (@tonygaziano )
Dean Girling (@dino_g_123 )
Thank you to the whole team at Gaziano & Girling especially @michaeljohnsymons for helping make this happen.
Stay tuned and follow along for the full film!
