Craftwork and Skill

Available for over a year

CRAFTWORK and SKILL Last week the Prime Minister said that he wanted to make sure that "Britain raises its skills game to world class". Nowadays people have people skills, managers have management skills and leaders have leadership skills. But are these true skills - or are they rather aptitudes we are born with, perhaps something that can be learnt on a weekend course? Laurie Taylor is joined by sociologist Richard Sennett, author of a new work entitled The Craftsman and Grayson Perry Turner Prize winning artist and craftsman-potter. They discuss the meaning of 'true' skill, of craftsmanship - of the lifelong engagement with a particular skill or craft. Is there still a need for the craftsman’s ethic in our computer-driven, factory-made society where strings to our bows count for so much more than a way with wood?