Slow Ways

We’re walking the length of Britain for British craft.

In May, Joe and I start our journey from Lands End to John O'Groats, across 1,200 miles of path. The three month expedition will be determined by the craftspeople we meet along the way. While documenting our journey, what we learn won't quite be what we expect, but we're curious about what can come when time is taken and attention is paid.

We’re doing this in support of two brilliant charities:

Heritage Craft work to protect endangered crafts in the UK. Their research and support is critical for saving important master craft skills from disappearing forever. https://www.heritagecrafts.org.uk/

QEST (The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust) provides funding and training opportunities for makers looking to develop their skills, build a career, and keep their craft alive for the future.

https://www.qest.org.uk/

Once a skill is lost it’s nearly impossible to bring it back. Bringing awareness to traditional artisanal practices is not just important in preserving our past but allows us to think something new of old ways. It offers generational wisdom in building and making, often with local materials that work with the living world, as opposed to against it. At times of increasing disembodiment to place and community, where productivity is valued over creativity, do craft skills offer an antidote, a way back to ourselves as part of the natural world?

Both these charities ensure that UK Craft holds a prominent position in our heritage, which has a really important impact on how we build, make and design with care and imagination.

If this resonates, please donate, share and follow our journey!

Our instagram is @sl0w_ways