> [!NOTE]+ Meta > Reference:: https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/what-role-and-value-crafts-today > Date:: 2024 > Tags:: #warp #UK/England > WeftLinks:: [[Health value of craft]] [[Economic value of craft]] > Claim:: [[Claim - Craft makes an important contribution to the economy]][[Claim - Hand skills play a role in medical procedures]] > [!SUMMARY] Summary > Craft is important for the health professions and economy. ### Highlights Crafts today contribute £1 billion annually to the economy, but their true value is much deeper, encompassing social and political aspects. Understanding how and why items are made fosters responsible consumption and appreciation for handmade goods. As technology evolves, the role of crafts remains vital, blending art and science while nurturing skills for future generations. > The handmade has unique aesthetic pleasures in itself but has also become intertwined with a whole bundle of different values, be they anti-consumerist, 'localist', green, or even just plain-old fashionable. > > As soon as we widen our gaze beyond the shop or the gallery, we see craft appearing in the most unanticipated places. Take for example the recent trachea transplant, a world first. It was made possible not only by the dexterity of the hands of a surgeon but also the glass artist Matt Durran who made the mould on which to grow the transplant scaffold. Last year, an orthopaedic surgeon from the Royal Glamorgan Hospital placed his junior as a carpenter's apprentice recognising the similarities in their practices: the tooling, teamworking and problem-solving. These skills are cross-disciplinary, neither art nor science, but always hard-won and always valuable. > > And a quick flick back to George Osborne's last budget and we can read about his 'Britain held aloft by the march of the makers'.