Overview

A dazzling, soul-stirring journey through the lost and endangered crafts that shaped Britain from multi-award-winning historian and broadcaster James Fox Britain has always been a craft land. For generations what we made with our hands defined our identities, built our communities and shaped our regions. Craftland chronicles the vanishing skills and traditions that once governed every aspect of life on these shores. Travelling the length of Britain, from the Scilly Isles to the Scottish Highlands, James Fox seeks out the country's last remaining master craftspeople. Stepping inside the workshops of blacksmiths and wheelwrights, cutlers and coopers, bell-founders and watchmakers, we glimpse not only our past but another way of life - one that is not yet lost and whose wisdom could shape our future. For as long as there are humans, there will be craft. It is all around us, hiding in plain sight, enriching even the most modest things. And in this increasingly digital age, it is perhaps more valuable than ever. Craftland is a celebration of that deeply necessary connection between our creative instincts and the material world we inhabit, revealing a richer and more connected way of living.

Full Product Details

9781847927866

Table of Contents

Reviews

An impassioned and inspiring account of the extraordinary men and women still doing traditional artisanal work in Britain * Sunday Times, *Book of the Week* * Craftland is a book that shimmers with love for a dwindling world of meticulous, patient labour … Lyrical … Deftly written and well researched * Guardian * Superb … A book with many highlights … [Fox] brings his critical intelligence to platform the usually silent process of mastering a craft. I read the book with admiration not only for the remarkable subjects individually, but also the human spirit that unites them all * New Statesman * If you want to know about Britain and yourself, read this book … This is a tremendous book that urges us – in spite of the seductions of crass modernity – to believe in the craftspeople, living and dead, who made us who we are. * Spectator * Meet the weavers, watchmakers and wheelwrights keeping Britain’s noble craft traditions alive … Fox effortlessly persuades the reader about the superiority of all things crafted * Mail on Sunday * Utterly enchanting -- Amol Rajan * BBC Radio 4 Today * This hugely absorbing book is so full of stories of crafts and craftspeople and communities, and of creativity over the ages. It’s such an important story to tell and told so compellingly. Wonderful -- Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse Beautiful, eye-opening and surprisingly moving - a treat to treasure -- Lucy Worsley, author of Jane Austen at Home A beautifully crafted book – akin to the beautifully crafted objects it describes … What a treat to discover facts and stories that feed the heart and prove that craft is as ever present as it has forever been -- Kate Malone, ceramist It is so rare to come across a book brimming with fresh news and seasoned with hope. James Fox uncovers a largely hidden history which is still alive all around us today. I read it in two gulps with delight -- Andrew Marr, author and journalist A dazzling combination of evocative prose and meticulous research, Craftland is an impassioned undertaking and novel portrait of the country’s past and how we might rethink our future -- Kate Bryan, art historian This extraordinary book is essential reading. It will leave you awestruck at the complexity and persistence of the crafts that shaped our world, and inspired to engage more deeply with our vanishing material world of objects and skills. Anyone who has ever felt a disconnection from modern life will find themselves irresistibly drawn in -- Xand Van Tulleken Brillian[t] … I recommend that the book be read slowly, section by section, so all the details can be appreciated * Literary Review * Cambridge art historian James Fox considers our heritage of artisanal labour, and documents those who are struggling to keep it alive. His accounts of such work are often thrilling * The Week * Craftland teems with detail … [It] is a tour through the world of British craft … Fox is very good at putting objects and materials into words * Financial Times *

A beautifully crafted book – akin to the beautifully crafted objects it describes … What a treat to discover facts and stories that feed the heart and prove that craft is as ever present as it has forever been -- Kate Malone, ceramist This hugely absorbing book is so full of stories of crafts and craftspeople and communities, and of creativity over the ages. It’s such an important story to tell and told so compellingly. Wonderful -- Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse It is so rare to come across a book brimming with fresh news and seasoned with hope. James Fox uncovers a largely hidden history which is still alive all around us today. I read it in two gulps with delight -- Andrew Marr, author and journalist A dazzling combination of evocative prose and meticulous research, Craftland is an impassioned undertaking and novel portrait of the country’s past and how we might rethink our future -- Kate Bryan, art historian This extraordinary book is essential reading. It will leave you awestruck at the complexity and persistence of the crafts that shaped our world, and inspired to engage more deeply with our vanishing material world of objects and skills. Anyone who has ever felt a disconnection from modern life will find themselves irresistibly drawn in -- Xand Van Tulleken

Craftland is a book that shimmers with love for a dwindling world of meticulous, patient labour … Lyrical … Deftly written and well researched * Guardian * A beautifully crafted book – akin to the beautifully crafted objects it describes … What a treat to discover facts and stories that feed the heart and prove that craft is as ever present as it has forever been -- Kate Malone, ceramist This hugely absorbing book is so full of stories of crafts and craftspeople and communities, and of creativity over the ages. It’s such an important story to tell and told so compellingly. Wonderful -- Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse Beautiful, eye-opening and surprisingly moving - a treat to treasure -- Lucy Worsley, author of Jane Austen at Home It is so rare to come across a book brimming with fresh news and seasoned with hope. James Fox uncovers a largely hidden history which is still alive all around us today. I read it in two gulps with delight -- Andrew Marr, author and journalist A dazzling combination of evocative prose and meticulous research, Craftland is an impassioned undertaking and novel portrait of the country’s past and how we might rethink our future -- Kate Bryan, art historian This extraordinary book is essential reading. It will leave you awestruck at the complexity and persistence of the crafts that shaped our world, and inspired to engage more deeply with our vanishing material world of objects and skills. Anyone who has ever felt a disconnection from modern life will find themselves irresistibly drawn in -- Xand Van Tulleken

Author Information

James Fox is an academic and multi-award-winning, BAFTA-nominated broadcaster, known for his many acclaimed BBC documentaries. He is Director of Studies in History of Art at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and Creative Director of the Hugo Burge Foundation, a charity dedicated to supporting the arts and crafts across Britain. He is also the author of the celebrated The World According to Colour- A Cultural History.

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