matchMAKER 

Heritage Crafts and Soane Britain are proud to launch matchMAKER, a new digital platform created to safeguard and promote craft skills.  

Heritage Crafts is a national charity which champions traditional crafts, protecting some of our most endangered British skills. It is of great importance, both culturally and economically, that traditional craftsmanship survives and it needs our support more than ever.

An uncompromising commitment to British craftsmanship has been at the heart of Soane’s ethos since the very beginning. Working with a network of the finest craftspeople in Britain since 1997, we preserve traditional skills and nurture them for future generations.

matchMAKER provides a centralised hub for employers to list opportunities in their workshops, offering potential trainees and job seekers access to entry level roles that sustain heritage craft skills, including those considered endangered. This new platform creates increased visibility for employers and prospective trainees, encouraging a new generation of makers to pursue a craft career and continue to practice vital heritage skills.

The Crafts Council estimates that the craft sector contributes £3.4 billion to the UK economy, and the most recent study in Mapping Heritage Crafts, carried out in 2012, suggest that over 210,000 people in the UK worked in the skilled trades and building crafts. Such significant employment figures underscore the urgent need to build awareness that craft skills not only contribute to the preservation of our cultural heritage, but are also an important contributor to the economy.