Emma Brackenbury

Emma spent the majority of her career working as a costume maker in film, with credits including Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Jurassic World. After contracting Long Covid 2020, she turned her focus to teaching as she was unable to continue working on film sets. In 2023, Emma set up the Corsetry Retreat which is a residential course where attendees create made-to-measure corsets using the skills that Emma has learnt throughout her wealth of experience. Through the Retreat, Emma ensure that the teaching provided is accessible to everyone, regardless of their physical or mental needs. She uses a kinesthetic approach to her teaching, adapting processes to suit the needs of her attendees so that they can get the most out of the sessions. Emma’s passion comes from the creative process and her pivot from working in film to teaching has allowed her to keep learning and develop her skills, passing on her knowledge to as many people as possible. Her commitment to accessibility has spread the craft of costume making to a wide range of people who might not otherwise be able to attend formal training courses. 

Tom McEwan

Tom graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1980 with a degree in Fine Art, before training as a die-sinker and moving into bookbinding, which he started in 2004. He is now Chair of the Society of Bookbinders in Scotland and very well-renowned in his field. Tom has been a trainer in his craft for 15 years and has taught over 500 students in a variety of courses and formats. He has several long-term students, as well as providing shorter courses and support to university students. Tom is a great advocate for the craft, making time to investigate new techniques as well as discover and celebrate old ones. He is frequently invited to travel across the UK to share his skills through workshops, conferences, demonstrations. Bookbinding is becoming increasingly harder to learn, particularly in Scotland where Tom is one of the only trainers of this craft. He goes out of his way to share his techniques with people who are keen to learn and is a fantastic teacher, putting his students at ease and encouraging them to get the most out of their sessions. There are many bookbinders in Scotland who would not be practicing without Tom, and he has had an enormous impact on the craft in Scotland and the rest of the UK. 

Photograph credits to Stefen Jakubowski and Heritage Crafts.

Line Hansen

Line has worked in the saddlery industry for 27 years, and is currently teaching on the City and Guilds Level 2 and Level 3 Diploma in Saddle, Harness and Bridle Making courses at Capel Manor College, while supporting and teaching on the Level 2 and Level 3 Shoemaking qualifications. She started as an equestrian, beginning her career as a rider then becoming a riding instructor, which led to her appreciation for saddlery. Line has won numerous awards in Saddlery and Harness Making and has educated and trained a large number of students in the craft, who have become skilled craftspeople and/or trainers. Line teaches at Capel Mano College which is one of the last colleges in the UK to provide saddlery courses and offers the prestigious and historic Worshipful Company of Cordwainer’s Diploma in Saddle, Harness and Bridle Making. Her students are taught how to produce the highest quality of leatherwork and develop their skills to enable them to work on more advanced leather projects in the saddlery industry. Line also has been developing her own skills in shoemaking to support with the teaching of Level 2 and 3 shoemakers in producing high quality leather shoes. Her passion is to keep hand sewn leather goods alive and to teach the next generation of saddlers and shoe makers, and she is continually promoting these endangered crafts to ensure they are not forgotten.

Greg Rowland

Greg is part of the world’s only father and son master wheelwright partnership. He served in the army and qualified as a vehicle mechanic and blacksmith before leaving at 21 to set up his own forge supporting the family business. He is now the Royal Warrant Grantee as a Wheelwright and Coachbuilder and his company has a very full workload, making over 200 wheels a year and restoring and making all kinds of vehicles and cannons. Greg is currently conducting wheelwright training through the Livery Companies Apprenticeship Scheme and is supporting a student through a Bench Joinery Apprenticeship with Exeter College. He also runs experience days for interested tourists to pass on his wide array of knowledge to the wider public. He is deeply passionate about wheelwrighting and keeping the age-old tradition alive and has contributed to many books and television programmes to ensure that his trade is always portrayed in the right way. Greg is passionate about making this ancient craft relevant and has produced over 100 Cadet Field Gun sets which can be used by young people in demonstrations, thus keeping the craft in the public eye as much as possible.

Achilles Khorassandjian

Achilles has been practising shoemaking for 57 years and began teaching over 25 years ago, resulting in him teaching over 250 students. He used to teach the Higher National Diploma in Shoemaking,BA in Footwear at the London College of Fashion and trained foreign nationals in his own studio. He has also worked in manufacturing and developing footwear for the industry. He still designs and makes shoes from his home studio while teaching the next generation of UK shoemakers and is still supporting firms in the industry with his knowledge and skills.

Achilles is currently teaching the BTEC Advanced level 3 Diploma in Shoemaking at Capel Manor College. He teaches students how to design and produce a variety of shoe types, the art of footwear, pattern cutting, leather cutting, upper making, lasting, making and attaching soles. During the course he trains them in all aspects of traditional shoemaking and design. He is dedicated to his students, will go above and beyond to support current and past students and is always available for advice and guidance. Achilles offered to come out of retirement to aid Capel Manor College in offering the course, now in his 3rd year of teaching he continues to show his dedication to promoting and training the craft of shoemaking.

Watch the Awards Presentation here:

Neill Mapes

Neill ran his own business making and selling Greenwood Craft products for 10 years, and exhibited at various trade shows and exhibitions, demonstrating his skills and selling to members of the public. In the 1980s, he began volunteering with the Greenwoods Trust where he was involved with the build of many of the wooden buildings on site at the Green Wood centre which hosts many courses. He is now their Heritage Craft Officer, working with course participants, members and volunteers.

Neill is currently teaching participants in the Lottery funded Build a Bench project at the Centre. The 12-week course is open to those who are currently unemployed, with no previous skills, who are given the chance to learn and practice greenwood working techniques. He also manages the training of the Heritage Craft Technician Trainee, acting as her mentor as she learns a range of skills. Neill’s passion and enthusiasm is infectious, and he networks with other craft enthusiasts to share his wealth of skills and knowledge. He has taught thousands of people and is extraordinarily generous with his time and knowledge. By passing on this knowledge to willing trainees, Neill is helping to promote and safeguard the craft for generations to come.

Kathy Abbott

Kathy has been a bindery manager at an antiquarian bookseller for over 8 years and has worked in a number of teams as a book conservator. In 2010, she wrote a bookbinding manual which is now used for reference in the field and is currently teaching two bookbinding courses, one for a class of around 10 people and one which consists of one-to-one sessions. She shows an enormous amount of dedication to her craft through the work she carries out in her own repair and restore business and through her teaching. Kathy is keen to get young people involved in the craft to ensure that it continues in the future. She is also the founder of a bookbinding collective called ‘Tomorrow’s Past’ which creates modern conservation bindings for antiquarian books.

Alistair McCallum

Alistair trained at Loughborough College of Art and the Royal College of Art and set up his first workshop in London in 1978 after graduation. Alistair is a silversmith and one of the leading practitioners of the Japanese metalworking technique of Mokume Gane, which he has explored for over 40 years. He works to commission as well as exhibiting nationally and internationally. Mokume Gane is a time consuming technique and involves building a sandwich of different metals which are then joined together by fusion or silver solder – the number of these layers can vary but Alistair uses between 5 and 128 dependent on each individual piece he makes.

Over the last 20 years, Alistair has dedicated his time to delivering workshops and short courses on this technique, which he has worked hard to get back into crafters’ minds. Sadly in June 2016, Alistair became blind overnight and so is no longer able to make or teach, but he remains positive and keen to support others in their own careers, acting as a mentor and adviser to the many students he has taught.

Mary English

Mary has been working in ceramics for over 25 years. Her main expertise is in using the method of pit-firing ceramics, an ancient craft which has been used for thousands of years. Mary enjoys teaching and instructing others in the craft, demonstrating the links between history, art, chemistry and anthropology via the method of pit-firing.

Mary conducts demonstrations, lectures and workshops in several locations across the southern part of the UK: in schools, council funded courses, in groups and weekly workshops at studios, and during festivals and open studio events. She also runs workshops working with children with behavioural difficulties who benefit from this one-to-one support.

Several of Mary’s trainees are now themselves instructing others in the method of pit-firing and have used Mary’s continued expertise and advice to develop their own work and art practice. Mary exhibits and sells her own pit-fired work in galleries throughout the UK, Australia, India and the USA.

Wendy Shorter

Wendy Shorter offers training and learning opportunities in upholstery and soft furnishings. In 2006 she set up her own training centre which has expanded and developed over the years to deliver classes and accredited qualifications to hundreds of students. As Director of Training for the Association of Master Upholsterers and Soft Furnishings, Wendy has developed a range of qualifications which are offered at her centre alongside a variety of day and evening leisure classes and one and two- day taster classes. She also works with local schools, providing upholstery training to a group of 17 year old students.

Wendy continues to look for opportunities to expand the training available to students from school age to retirement. She has helped others to set up their own training centres and ensures that courses delivered by training partners are at a high standard, by offering mentoring support. Since Wendy’s centre was set up, at least a third of qualified students have gone on to work in the upholstery and soft furnishings industry, either for themselves or for other employers in the industry. Through her work, Wendy has helped to ensure the continuation of these creative skills for years to come.

Cameron Maxfield

Cameron teaches all traditional silversmithing skills: hand-raising, casting, soldering, spinning, chasing and forging. Although he has a love for these traditional techniques, he also has a keen eye for contemporary design and has helped many of the younger makers perfect their work in this area. He is a great mentor and is happy to share his personal equipment and his workshop with his students, at home when they need to have access to equipment not available in the silversmith’s workshop.

Cameron taught for 28 years as a senior technician and lecturer at the Sheffield Hallam University’s Jewellery and Metalwork course. After he retired from there, he was invited by Yorkshire Artspace to work as a technical skills expert and design advisor for the Starter Studio Programme for emerging silversmiths. He provided one-to-one tuition to up to six emerging silversmiths and jewellers per annum and has done so for ten years. He also regularly runs master-classes, specialising in hand-raising, forging and spinning.

Cameron has made significant contributions to the careers of his trainees. The silversmiths who attended his course at Sheffield Hallam University all now teach, sell their work, win awards and run their own successful businesses. Of the younger silversmiths he has taught on the Starter Studio Programme for silversmiths, most are now working from their own workshops around the UK.

Wayne Parrott

Wayne is a trained assessor, and was in charge of the City and Guilds of London exams for Silversmithing and Allied Crafts. Wayne had taught day release, pre-apprentices, full-time and part time City and Guild Students, National Diploma and Higher National Diploma students. He has an MA in Applied Art and Visual Culture, is a Freeman of the City of London, The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and is a Fellow of the Institute of Professional Goldsmiths.

Wayne is regularly active in giving demonstrations and lectures to the Horological Society. He has always been active in his studio, and has had commissions for the Duke of Edinburgh and the late Queen Mother. He engraved a clock dial for the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, which was auctioned to raise money for apprenticeships and has works on display at Westminster Abbey, St Pauls Cathedral, Goldsmiths’ Hall, the Barbican Library, He is also regular judge for the Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council Awards.

Wayne runs regular short courses at West Dean College, West Sussex. He also runs evening courses through the Hand Engravers Association in London and occasional one – three day courses at the same location. These are all for beginner to intermediate level students, although can also be useful to more advanced craftspeople to keep up to date with their craft. Wayne also gives private tuition in his own workshop.