PLANT FIBRES
Willow and basketry
Basket weaving is one of the traditions the government named when it set out to recognise UK living heritage.
See how the list moved
BRITAIN'S LIVING HERITAGE
Living crafts,
worth keeping.
Some of the UK's handmade skills are at risk of disappearing.
Pewter working, organ building and cut crystal glass are among the crafts highlighted in the 2025 Red List of Endangered Crafts, which rates 165 traditional crafts as endangered or critically endangered. Here is what the list says, and why craft is now treated as living heritage.
Plain English, with the sources linked.
HANDMADE still here
Explore the Red List- Learn it
- Use it
- Pass it on
- Skills survive in hands
THE SHORT ANSWER
165 crafts at risk.
Of 285 crafts assessed in 2025,
72 are critically endangered and 93 endangered.
METALWORK
Pewter and silver
Pewter working and the allied trades that support silversmithing were among the crafts flagged in the 2025 update.
Read the craft facts
WOOD AND STONE
Carving traditions
Welsh lovespoon carving and slate carving are cited by the government as craft heritage worth recognising.
Keep a craft alive
KEEP A CRAFT ALIVE
Four ways skills
get passed on.
Learn from a maker
Short courses and workshops run by working makers are one of the main routes by which rare skills reach new hands.
Buy from the person who made it
A craft survives when someone can earn a living from it. Buying direct keeps more of the price with the maker.
Write down what you know
If a relative or neighbour practises a local craft, note the tools, words and methods they use. Records help when skills are rebuilt.
Teach someone else
Every craft on the list survives only as long as someone is learning it. Sharing even the basics extends the chain.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
Fewer makers,
fewer learners.
The risk to a craft is rarely the craft itself.
It is the chain of people who pass it on.
62 to 72
Crafts rated critically endangered
In two years the most at-risk group grew by ten. Nine crafts were new to the list and three moved up from a lower risk category.
RED LIST · 2023 TO 2025
−23%
Craft GCSE entries in England
The Crafts Council's Studying Craft report also found that craft-related higher education courses fell by 50% over the same years, while craft apprenticeships rose.
CRAFT EDUCATION · 2007/08 TO 2014/15
Neither figure means a craft is doomed. Apprenticeships, courses and small grants are how many listed crafts gain new makers.
RED LIST EXPLORER
How many crafts
are at risk?
Pick a category to see how many crafts the 2025 Red List of Endangered Crafts placed in it. The bar shows its share of the 285 crafts assessed.
The list is compiled by the charity Heritage Crafts. A craft can move between categories from one edition to the next as makers retire or new ones train.
CRAFT FACTS
Five things worth
knowing.
285 crafts, assessed one by one
The 2025 edition of the Red List of Endangered Crafts assessed 285 crafts, up from 259 in 2023. The list was first published in 2017.
165 now at risk
With 72 critically endangered and 93 endangered, the number of at-risk crafts rose from 146 to 165, including the allied trades behind silversmithing.
Craft is living heritage
The UK joined UNESCO's 2003 Convention as the 183rd State, depositing its ratification on 7 March 2024. It took effect on 7 June 2024 and covers traditional craftsmanship.
A UK inventory of traditions
The UK-wide living heritage inventory is built from four national inventories, with crafts one of seven categories. The government cites tartan weaving and dry-stone walling as examples.
Worth more than it looks
The government puts the craft sector's value at over £400 million a year, alongside its role in keeping local traditions and places distinctive.
QUICK QUESTIONS
Crafts, answered.
Short answers to the questions people ask most.
What is the Red List of Endangered Crafts?
It is an assessment of how likely traditional crafts are to survive in the UK, run by the charity Heritage Crafts. The list was first published in 2017; the 2025 edition assessed 285 crafts.
How many crafts are at risk?
In the 2025 edition, 72 crafts were rated critically endangered and 93 endangered, 165 in all. Two years earlier the equivalent total was 146.
Have any crafts been lost completely?
The Red List also records crafts that have been lost from the UK. No craft was newly added to that group between the 2023 and 2025 editions.
What does UNESCO have to do with crafts?
UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage recognises traditional craftsmanship as living heritage. The UK joined as the 183rd State, and the convention took effect for the UK on 7 June 2024.
Why are fewer people learning crafts?
A 2016 Crafts Council report found that craft GCSE entries in England fell by 23% between 2007/08 and 2014/15, and that the number of craft-related higher education courses halved over the same period.
Sources
- Heritage Crafts Red List of Endangered Crafts 2025 publishedInstitute of Historic Building Conservation
- Silversmithing allied trades added to the UK's Red List of Endangered CraftsThe Royal Mint
- UK becomes the 183rd State to join UNESCO's 2003 ConventionICOM UK
- UK launches search for traditions that define our communitiesGOV.UK, 2025
- Welsh traditions set to be formally recognised as UK joins UNESCO conventionGOV.UK, 2024
- Studying Craft 3: trends in craft education and trainingCrafts Council, 2016
Updated