THE BRITISH CRÆFT PRIZE
A new national award seeking ingenious ideas that combine heritage craft wisdom with advanced technology to forge a dynamic and rooted new vision for Britain.
£60,000 prize fund
What is The British Cræft Prize?
The British Cræft Prize is a new national prize launching in 2026. We are looking for maverick and misfit makers, designers, engineers, and innovators to forge something ingenious — work to benefit Britain and the wider world.
The twist? This is no ordinary design or innovation competition. We are searching for innovative responses to today's biggest challenges, inviting innovators to draw on the deep wisdom embedded in the heritage crafts of the past and combine it with the cutting-edge technologies of the future.
Competing for a prize pot of £60,000+, the competition is designed to inspire a wave of creativity and innovation. It is open to all the merrie people of Britain, by birth or adoption.
Why it exists
The British Cræft Prize is the brainchild of Nation of Artisans — a project founded in 2025 to explore British identity through the lens of craft and industry ("what Britain makes, and what makes Britain").
Britain is a land of deep craft and creative heritage. It is also a pioneer of some of the world's most important industrial and technological innovations.
Yet these two traditions have drifted apart. Britain's craft world is rooted but increasingly fragile, often trapped trying to conserve a way of life whose material foundations have already vanished. Meanwhile, our techno-innovation industries are revolutionary but lacking in soul and meaning, often dissolving the communities and traditions that once enabled harmony and flourishing.
The British Cræft Prize exists not to preserve ashes, but to light a new fire. It incubates radical, practical creations that prove heritage and innovation can be dynamic partners. By combining craft knowledge with emerging technology, the prize aims to address Britain's identity and innovation crisis through a new mode of AI: artisanal intelligence.
On "Cræft" & Technology
"Craft" is a word that invites argument. Is it only handmade? Is it opposed to technology and industry? In popular usage it often collapses into twee imagery: Etsy sellers and nostalgic handicraft. While we value human-scale making, the Cræft Prize is aimed at something more ambitious.
The name draws on the Anglo-Saxon "cræft": not manual skill alone, but the virtuous application of knowledge and power that binds hand, eye, mind, material, place, and history into a coherent practice — what historian Alexander Langlands describes as a "hand-eye-head-heart-body coordination" grounded in the material world.
Thus, the prize is avowedly pro-technology, but against slop. At its best, technology is about doing more with less, a principle long shared by craft, engineering, and invention. Following Josiah Wedgwood, we see technology not as an enemy of craft, but as a tool for extending it: enabling human flourishing through work that unites utility, beauty, and scale.
What we want to see
We are seeking ingenious applications of the fusion between heritage craft and innovative technology. We are casting our net widely because true innovation affects both the object and the method of its creation.
Britain's heritage has always been defined by this dual ambition:
- Sheffield makes cutlery and it perfected the crucible steel process.
- Northamptonshire mastered shoemaking and scaled Goodyear welting.
- Stoke-on-Trent makes ceramics and invented the bone china process.
Entries should demonstrate this spirit of "future heritage" in one of two ways:
1. A Product
An artefact that brings together craft and technology to solve a specific challenge.
2. A Method
A deep redesign of a process or supply chain. One might design a new way of making, joining, or sourcing that combines material wisdom with cutting-edge tools — ideally illustrated through the creation of a physical prototype.
Exemplary Projects
Ultimately, we want innovations that use advanced technology to extend deep craft traditions into practical applications such as:
- Not Quite Past applying genAI to ceramic form-making
- Petit Pli using origami principles and advanced materials to create clothing that grows with children
- WikiHouse reviving ancient timber joinery through CNC-milled construction
- Zaha Hadid Architects fusing 3D printing with voussoir masonry techniques to build un-reinforced bridges
We want to see more things like this.
Eligibility & Britain
Entries should address challenges relevant to Britain, while showing how solutions shaped by British cræft could scale globally. We are open to economic, environmental, cultural, infrastructural, or psychological problems, provided the scope is clearly defined.
We seek work with deep material or cultural roots in Britain, grounded in its crafts, landscapes, skills, supply chains, or infrastructure, where that rootedness is evident in the thinking and making, not just the narrative.
Of course, projects may draw on ideas and technologies from all over the world, but must be genuinely aligned with the spirit of British cræft, not merely compliant.
The Goal
To inspire passion for British cræft, and to catalyse a new generation of beautiful, ingenious, craft-rooted products and solutions that help shape a more harmonious future for life in Britain.
By harmony, we mean this in a broad and practical sense: harmony with nature through responsible use of materials and resources; harmony with each other through work that supports everyday life, work, and community; and harmony with ourselves through objects and systems that are intelligible, durable, and psychologically sustaining rather than disposable or extractive.
The British Cræft Prize exists to show that craft, when treated as a form of intelligence rather than nostalgia, can play a serious role in addressing contemporary challenges — in ways that are grounded in Britain, yet relevant to the wider world.
Collaborators & Supporters
The British Cræft Prize is currently supported by Tyler Cowen at Emergent Ventures and partnered with the Centre for British Progress.
We are actively seeking additional partners who share the cræft and future heritage thesis.
Process & Timeline
Model: Call for Proposals → Shortlist of 6 → Production Phase → Final Judging → One Winner.
Call for Proposals
Applications open for all eligible makers, designers, engineers, and innovators.
Shortlist Announcement
6 finalists selected based on the potential of their concept.
Production Phase
Each finalist receives a £5,000 production grant to advance their work and build it into an installation ahead of the final exhibition and awards ceremony.
Final Judging
The winner is judged on the realised artifact. Experts on specific technologies and crafts will be brought in to assess the work.
Winner Announcement & Exhibition
The winner is announced. All finalists are profiled through high-quality editorial, film, and exhibition.
The Prize
Nominees
The 6 shortlisted finalists each receive a £5,000 production grant and a "British Cræft" medal.
Awards
Winner: The overall winner receives a further £30,000 accolade to scale and commercialise their project.
Nominees: All 6 finalists receive a "British Cræft" medal.
Recognition: The longlist will also be recognised and showcased.
All shortlisted finalists are profiled by Nation of Artisans through high-quality editorial, film, and an exhibition.
Exemplary Projects
These projects demonstrate the spirit we're looking for: ingenious innovations that use advanced technology to extend deep craft traditions into practical applications. We want to see more things like this.
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Petit Pli
Origami and advanced materials to make clothes that grow with your child, reducing waste through ingenious folding patterns inspired by ancient paper craft.
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Not Quite Past
Applying generative AI to ceramic form-making, exploring how computational design can extend traditional pottery practices while maintaining craft sensibility and material knowledge.
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WikiHouse
Jigsaw-like houses fusing Korean classical wedge-and-peg architecture and CNC milling for scaleable snap-together homes, democratizing building through open-source design.
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Monumental Labs
Sculptures carved by CNC robots and master stonemasons, combining computational design with traditional stone carving expertise to create contemporary monuments.
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The Warp
3D-printed panels made from recycled wood sawdust constructed through Japanese tsugite and shiguchi joinery techniques, fusing traditional carpentry with sustainable manufacturing.
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ENLACE by Aranda/Lasch
AI-personalised bistro chairs crafted by master rattan chair makers, using generative design to create unique variations while preserving traditional weaving techniques.
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Striatus 3D Printed Concrete Bridge
Freestanding un-reinforced bridge built with 3D printed concrete and ancient voussoir stonemasonry techniques, demonstrating how digital fabrication extends structural craft knowledge.
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Tavs Jorgensen Bricks
Brickcraft forged from cob in 3D-printed extrusion moulds, combining traditional earthen building materials with advanced manufacturing techniques.
Judging Criteria
Entries will be judged against six criteria. Judging will be done blind from one another to prevent conformism and social pressure.
1. Ingenuity
Invention in form, function, or method
2. Cræft Depth
Alignment between material, place, and process
3. Beauty
Aesthetic excellence that endures
4. Usefulness & Scalability
Repeatable, makeable, and beneficial beyond the one-off
5. Integrity
Sustainability, repairability, honest sourcing, and social value
6. Future Heritage
Contribution to Britain's next material culture
Our Judges
Judges are selected from a breadth of worlds at the intersection of innovation, technology, design, and craft.
Confirmed Judges
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James Fox
James Fox
Art Historian, Curator & Broadcaster
Cambridge art historian, curator, and BAFTA-nominated broadcaster, formerly of Harvard and Yale. He is Director of Studies in History of Art at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Creative Director of the Hugo Burge Foundation, and author of Craftland.
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Julia Willemyns
Julia Willemyns
Co-founder, Centre for British Progress
Co-founder of the Centre for British Progress, with a background spanning AI, high-skilled STEM immigration, and philanthropy.
TBC
To Be Confirmed
Additional judge to be announced soon.
TBC
To Be Confirmed
Additional judge to be announced soon.
TBC
To Be Confirmed
Additional judge to be announced soon.
TBC
To Be Confirmed
Additional judge to be announced soon.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is eligible to apply?
What kind of projects are you looking for?
Does my project need to be craft-only or technology-only?
What does "British Cræft" mean?
Is there an application fee?
What's the prize structure?
How will entries be judged?
Who are the judges?
Can projects draw on international ideas and technologies?
What challenges should my project address?
Expression of Interest
Applications are not yet open, but we'd love to hear about your project. Submit an expression of interest below, and we'll notify you when the formal application process begins.
Get Involved
Interested in partnering with The British Cræft Prize? We're looking for collaborators who can help with institutional partnership, venue support, sponsorship, media outreach, production, or judging.
louis@nationofartisans.com