Wooden Bowls and the Heritage Crafts Association
I’ve been interested in ‘hand-made’ products for ages, especially wooden stuff. A couple of years ago, I got a pair of wooden plates made by a chap called Tony Wrench (who infamously lives in a hand-built roundhouse in Wales and has been the subject of a lengthy planning battle – but he won! http://www.thatroundhouse.info).
The plates are great – we use them almost every day to eat our dinner off. They stand the test of time and probably look better as they get used and abused. They keep food warmer as they are more insulating than ceramic plates and are very tactile to hold/use. Apart from a twice yearly oiling (I use Walnut Oil), they can take all the abuse you can throw at them – just don’t leave them soaking in water for too long.
About a year ago, though some connection or other, I came across a website for a guy called ‘Robin Wood‘ (no really, that’s his name). He lives in Derbyshire and uses a foot-powered lathe to make wooden plates and bowls. The type that really intrigued me was called a ‘porringer’ – best described as a sort of breakfast or desert bowl with wings! The bowl is turned with an extended lip, most of which is then axed off to leave the ‘wings’ which form perfect handles, meaning you can hold the bowl in one hand on the base and your thumb resting on one of the wings to counter balance it.
The Poringer, hand made by Robin Wood
A porringer became top of my birthday present list, and as you can see above, I love eating my morning porridge from it!
To see how a bowl is fashioned by hand (and foot) from a solid block of green wood is fascinating to say the least – take a look at Robin making one in this YouTube video:
Robin has both an excellent website and separate blog, in which he has become a bit of a one-man superhero, campaigning to save and promote traditional crafts. The result of his efforts (and I’m sure many other people efforts too) is the formation of the ‘Heritage Crafts Association‘.
The Heritage Crafts Association is the advocacy body for traditional heritage crafts. Working in partnership with Government and key agencies, it provides a focus for craftspeople, groups, societies and guilds, as well as individuals who care about the loss of traditional crafts skills, and works towards a healthy and sustainable framework for the future.
Please visit their website and support them – so many traditional crafts are in danger of disappearing, yet in a world with an uncertain future, possibly with less or no oil, means we will need the knowledge of these crafts more than ever before.
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