Craftland: In Search of Lost Arts and Disappearing Trades

An "impassioned and inspiring account of the extraordinary men and women still doing traditional artisanal work" (The Sunday Times) in the face of massive technological industrialization--by renowned Cambridge art historian Dr. James Fox.

"Shimmers with love for a dwindling world of meticulous, patient labour . . . deftly written and well researched."--The Guardian

During an age of mass manufacturing, fast fashion, synthetic materials and the unsustainable practice of companies valuing quantity over quality, a return to tradition, connection, and simplicity is essential.

Art historian and award-winning broadcaster Dr. James Fox explores the rapidly fading crafts and artisanal traditions of the world--such as coopering, basket-weaving, wheelwrighting, metalwork, and blacksmithing--that have shaped so much of our history through their alchemy of the hand-made human touch and generational wisdom.

Fox explains the history of craftsmanship in Britain, taking readers across the lands and communities that originated there, teaching them about the practices, traditions, and people at their heart. From coopers to thatchers, basket makers to bellfounders and dry wall builders, Fox tours Britain, once the workshop of the world, in search of its lost and disappearing craft traditions and the artisans trying to keep them alive including, a rush weaver who has managed to rebuild a sustainable business with her baskets and other wares, a bell foundry that uses the same practices it used in the nineteenth century, and dry wallers, building walls one piece of stone at a time that could last two centuries.

Part travelogue and part historical record, Craftland is a profoundly intimate meditation on our human cultural heritage, exploring what we lose as these traditions fade from view in the race of progress, and what we stand to gain if we bring them back.

Author: James Fox
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
Published: 10/28/2025
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.30w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9780593735077

About the Author
Dr. James Fox is a Cambridge art historian, writer, public speaker, curator, and multi-award-winning, BAFTA-nominated broadcaster. He has previously held positions at Harvard and Yale. He is currently director of studies in History of Art at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, creative director of the Hugo Burge Foundation, director of education at the Jeffrey Rubinoff Sculpture Park in Canada, and president of the Friends of the Stanley Spencer Gallery. He is the author of The World According to Color, named "Book of the Year" by the Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, New Statesman, Spectator, and Art Newspaper. He lives in London.