The United Kingdom has a longstanding history of craftsmanship, however research conducted by the Heritage Crafts Association (HCA) claims 37 percent of traditional crafts** are in danger of dying out. There are currently 17 crafts – including clog making, paper marbling and piano making – classified as ‘critically endangered’ which are at serious risk, with a further 45 on the ‘endangered’ list. To help save these crafts, Airbnb and the HCA have joined forces to provide Experiences hosted by the endangered craftspeople on their site, that are bookable for the public.
The crafts have ended up on the endangered lists due to various factors, such as limited training opportunities and a lack of mechanism to pass on the skills and knowledge, however research conducted by Airbnb into the UK’s hobbies also provides some insight into the problem.
Hobbies have become less of a priority to the population, with a quarter (26%) of Brits stating they don’t have one, and 31 percent*** unable to remember their last hobby.
Unsurprisingly, the main reasons for Brits not taking part in hobbies these days are:
32%
lack of time
26%
work
24%
cost
18%
other commitments
13%
lack of skills
Although Brits may have fewer hobbies, a third of respondents stated they’d be more interested in trying out a craft if they knew it was in danger of dying out – which has now been made possible thanks to the collaboration between Airbnb and the HCA offering ‘critically endangered’ crafts as Experiences available to book on the platform.
The Experience workshops will be led by craftspeople from the critically endangered list, and guests will be able to learn about the dying crafts and the basic skills that are required. The following workshops will be hosted across the UK:
World-renowned photographer Rankin is also helping to raise awareness of these dying crafts, by capturing images of wheelwright Greg Rowland, clog maker JoJo Wood and paper marbler Lucy McGrath for the partnership.
There’s so many craft-based skills which take years to properly hone and develop that are in danger of dying out. We must not let this happen. Shooting with Greg, JoJo and Lucy, I got a unique insight into their work and why we should fight to keep crafts like these alive.
Rankin, Photographer
We’re delighted to work together with the HCA and enable craftspeople to offer these unique workshops through our platform, connecting travelers and locals to authentic historical crafts. We’ve seen a growing appetite for Arts & Crafts Experiences on our site, with an increase of 180 percent in bookings to this category of Experiences in 2018, making it a powerful platform to raise awareness about the crafts in danger of dying out.
Hadi Moussa, General Manager for Northern Europe for Airbnb
It has been our mission to help raise awareness and safeguard craft skills across the UK for almost 10 years. In an increasingly digital world, it’s vital to ensure that traditional crafts are taught well and thus continue into the future. We all lose part of our heritage when a traditional craft becomes extinct, which is why we are so excited to be collaborating with Airbnb to bring these unique skills to a wider group of people and hopefully, inspire them to take it up themselves.
Patricia Lovett MBE, Chair of the Heritage Crafts Association
The Airbnb x Heritage Crafts Association workshops are available to book via this link: http://abnb.co/uk–craft
And around the world, local hosts have long been turning to Airbnb as a platform to preserve traditional crafts to show guests another side of their community, heritage and culture. A sampling of those Experiences are below:
Experience Folk Painting with Artists
Natural Dye Using Ancient Techniques
Learn the Typical Art of Buenos Aires
Learn to Draw Ancient Mexican Art
*Based on internal data from Airbnb on year over year growth of bookings in the UK for Arts & Crafts Experiences, from July 2017 to July 2018.
**Based on research conducted by the Heritage Crafts Association.
***Based on research commissioned by Airbnb and conducted by One Poll with 2,000 respondents in July 2018.
The Airbnb Press Room is aimed at journalists. All Experiences referenced on the Airbnb Press Room are intended purely to inspire and illustrate. Airbnb does not recommend or endorse specific Experiences on the Airbnb platform.
Composer : Theodore Elwell ‘Climbing Ivy”