Building something that matters: Introducing The Haud

In an increasingly digital world where we feel disconnected from ourselves, our communities, and nature, craft offers something tangible. It transforms everyday objects – a mug, a quilt, a basket – into things made with love, skill, and dedication that genuinely improve our lives.

But here's what many people don't know: in the UK, we're at risk of losing these skills entirely. Heritage Crafts latest Red List identifies 146 endangered craft practices – from traditional basket making, to stained glass windows to cricket ball making. Skills that have been passed down through generations, now at risk of extinction within ours.

These aren't just techniques; they're integral to our social fabric and representative of our national heritage.

That's why I founded The Haud.

We're solving a double-sided problem: makers are overwhelmed by selling, marketing, and logistics, while struggling with visibility on platforms like Etsy that are saturated with mass-produced alternatives. Meanwhile, customers crave authenticity but can't find it, or can't understand the value when they do because of poor photography and lack of context.

Here's where we are: We launched around four months ago with a small collection of makers. Our following on Instagram has grown 25-fold to over 1,700 people, confirming there's a passionate audience for this. We have makers in the pipeline practicing everything from corn dolly making (a folklore tradition), to paper marbling, to hand loom weaving.

We don't just want to build a business – we want to build a movement, where investing in craft means investing in our cultural legacy.

So, if you're a traditional makers looking for better platform, or if you're interested in what we're building, I'd love to hear from you.