I’ve just read Craftland by James Fox, ahead of talking to him about it for a (sold out - sorry) event with The Margate Bookshop.
David Pye said in 1968 that craftsmanship is “a word to start an argument with”. And in Craftland, Fox meets a number of people unhappy about the word. When he describes something David French makes as “a work of art”, he said to Fox, “Come off it, it’s a bloody crab pot.” Wheelwright Greg Rowland says to Fox, “I’m not a craftsman, this isn’t a hobby, and I’m not keeping anything alive. This here is a trade.”
Pye constantly battled with the language. “If I must ascribe meaning to the word craftsmanship, I shall say as a first approximation that it means simply workmanship using any kind of technique or apparatus, in which the quality of the result is not predetermined, but depends on the judgment, dexterity, and care which the maker exercises as he works. The essential idea is that the quality of the result is continually at risk during the process of making; and so I shall call this kind of workmanship ‘The Workmanship of Risk’: an uncouth phrase, but at least descriptive.”
I thought that idea is the core of most art and craft practices, and perhaps taking risks is what separates the merely competent from the interesting and great. I’ll let you know if we get any closer to a definition after the talk.
The Work Bit
This weekend, 27th & 28th September, it’s Gala Weekend at Sittingbourne Steam Railway. I’ll be there, as Writer-in-Residence, with a set of challenges to help you explore the site, and some prompts to encourage you to write about the place, too. You can read the first piece I wrote as Writer-in-Residence here.
On Saturday, I was invited by the railway to spend some time on the footplate of 1905 steam loco Premier, and learn how to drive the engine. My work as Writer-in-Residence is a commission from Medway-based Ideas Test, and later this week they’ll be publishing the piece I’ve written about the experience of driving.
Meanwhile, I’ve also been working on The Whitehawk Great Map, which heads off on a UK tour from November. This commission was from Fabrica in Brighton, and is an Alexandra Reinhardt Memorial Award, given by Engage.
The UK’s government has formally recognised Palestine as a state, 110 years after the UK invaded, established the Palestine Mandate, and started the problem.
An estate in Kent is planting young elm trees bred to be resilient to Dutch elm disease in a bid to help improve habitats for a rare species of butterfly.
A 19th Century pub has reopened after more than 10 years - and it includes a model railway (from the 1960s or 1970s) running above the bar.
And a real railway is closer to reopening in Devon, too. It’s easy to think that steam railways were preserved by a certain generation, so it’s quite reassuring to see they’re still growing.
Paxton Pits in Cambridgeshire is due to expand from 78 hectares to about 280, bringing in surrounding meadows, woodland and lakes next to the River Great Ouse.
In Clearing the Air by Hannah Ritchie, the data scientist rebuts 50 arguments against green technology and gives us a bit more hope for the future.
Shropshire Wildlife Trust say the Shrewsbury beavers are settling in well. The Ragged Optimist wrote about their arrival earlier this year.
Inside Out, Downside Up by Slaatto Morsbøl is a pavilion built mainly from reused materials. I’d love to see things like this scattered across the proms of the UK’s seaside towns.