Something significant happened recently in the UK government’s approach to young people and social media. New, planned measures were announced to implement overnight curfews on social media apps for 16 and 17-year-olds, switching off access between midnight and 6am. Features designed to keep users scrolling, such as autoplay videos and endlessly personalised feeds, could be turned off by default for older teenagers next year. 

A pilot involving more than 300 teenagers and parents across the UK found that overnight curfews quickly became part of family routines and led to measurable improvements in sleep and concentration. The conclusion was clear: young people benefit from time away from their screens, even when they do not choose it voluntarily. 

Most parents would welcome these steps. However, there is a more interesting question, though: Isn’t it less about what we take away from young people, but more about what we give them instead? 

The difference between consuming and creating. 

Social media, when it is being used passively, can turn us into consumers. We scroll through other people’s lives, other people’s opinions, other people’s carefully curated highlights, absorbing content that someone else made, shaped and optimised to keep us watching for as long as possible. The algorithm is designed to maximise engagement, which, for young people, can mean maximising anxiety, comparison and the nagging sense that something more interesting is always just one more scroll away. 

The antidote to consumption is creation, and there is no simpler, more accessible form of creation than crafting. 

When a young person learns to knit, throw a pot, carve wood, make a candle, sew a piece of clothing, or work with resin or metalwork or textiles, something fundamentally different happens. They start with an idea and put in effort to turn it into something real. They make mistakes and learn from them, developing patience, concentration and skill. They experience the satisfaction of finishing something that exists in the physical world, that they made with their own hands and can be proud of. Unlike the dopamine hit of a like or a share, that satisfaction does not evaporate the moment it arrives. It lasts. 

Why crafting is the perfect alternative to passive consumption. 

Learning a craft builds practical skills such as the ability to make, repair and create things. These skills give young people a kind of competence and self-reliance that will be required at other times of their lives.  

Creativity is exercised not by browsing but by doing: experimenting, solving problems, making decisions and living with the results. The patience and concentration required to make something well are qualities that endless scrolling cannot provide. 

There is also the question of confidence. Completing a project, whether it is a finished piece of jewellery, a hand-thrown bowl or a batch of hand-poured candles, gives a young person genuine evidence of their own capability. That is a very different thing from the fragile, comparison-driven self-esteem that social media tends to produce. 

Craft can also become a career. Skilled trades and creative professions offer real routes into employment, self-employment and apprenticeships. Many of the crafters we work with at Craft Insurance started as young hobbyists who discovered they loved making things and gradually turned that passion into a livelihood. The craft community in the UK is welcoming, supportive and full of people who began with an idea, a passion and two willing hands! 

At Craft Insurance, we have spent nearly four decades providing craft insurance to makers of every kind and at every stage of their journey. We have seen first-hand how transformative craft can be, and we are proud to work with many skilled crafters who have built businesses they are genuinely proud of. If you are thinking about encouraging a young person in your life to pick up a craft, you could not be choosing a better moment! 

Can crafting really compete with the phone? 

The pull of social media is real, and it is engineered to be difficult to resist. But, as the government pilot proved, when there is a structure of an overnight curfew, for instance, it quickly becomes routine. The same principle applies to craft. The hardest part is starting. Once a young person has sat down, picked up the tools, made something and felt that satisfaction, the return visit becomes easier. And the more they make, the more they want to make – then they can use social media creatively to share their creations! 

Often young people need active help to step back from the features designed to keep them hooked. Craft provides that help in the most positive way possible, not by removing something but by replacing it with something genuinely better. Something that builds rather than drains and has lasting results. 

From hobby to business: we are here when they are ready. 

If the young person in your life takes to craft and starts thinking about selling their work, teaching others, or turning their hobby into something more, Craft Insurance is here to help them take that step with confidence. Our creative insurance is designed to grow with makers at every stage, from a first stall at a local fair to a fully established craft business. 

Craft insurance does not have to be complicated or expensive. We make it straightforward, jargon-free and genuinely affordable, because we want as many makers as possible to be able to do what they love with the peace of mind that they are properly protected. Whether your young crafter is just starting out or already selling, get in touch and we will make sure they have exactly the right creative insurance cover for where they are right now. 

The government is planning to take a step to protect young people from the worst of what screens can do to them. The craft community can offer the best of what hands-on creativity can do for them, and we are proud to be part of that story. 

Get a Quote Now   

.

It’s something we use several times a day, without which no civilisation would be able to develop and central to several professions. Let’s talk about the humble knife. Whether it be a table knife for tucking into our dinner, a butcher’s or chef’s knife for preparing our food, or a pocketknife, reminiscent of those essential for our hunter gatherer forebears, we could not live without them. Here at Craft Insurance, we are proud to support clients who are traditional knife makers, keeping skills alive which have been honed and passed down through generations.  

While many of us may quote Sheffield as being the centre of UK cutlery manufacturing since the Industrial Revolution, there is evidence that steel production in the area dated as far back to the the 14th century, with a reference being made to knife production by Chaucer in the 15th century. Skilled craftsmen, known as ‘little mesters’ worked within their own homes to produce knives made of steel, collecting materials from the surrounding countryside which contained not only wood from the forests, but iron ore as well. With the surrounding hills of the Peak District being the source of a number of fast flowing rivers, their natural energy was harnessed to drive heavy stone wheels which could be used for the sharpening of bladed tools such as scythes and knives. Thus, Sheffield’s geographical location and natural resources nurtured its initial, unpretentious beginnings of a trade which was to make it the “steel city” of the U.K., with exports that would be off around the globe. 

It was two discoveries that happened in succession, the first by Benjamin Hunstman in 1742 and the second by Henry Bessemer in 1856, which really put Sheffield on the map as a global producer of steel cutlery. By the mid nineteenth century, steel was being produced in mass by heating coke, iron ore and scrap metal at high temperatures, producing liquid steel which could be poured into moulds, all at a cost which was financially viable. Thus, Sheffield grew into a major industrial city and global exporter of steel for items such as railway lines, armour plating for ships, construction and, of course, cutlery. 

The early twentieth century saw advancements in the manufacture of stainless steel, with a surge in cutlery makers alongside this; the area in which many of these were situated, Portland Works, still houses cutlery makers today. The second half of the twentieth century, however, saw a tragic decline in Sheffield’s industrial fortunes, with the closure of many furnaces and associated loss of jobs.  

Despite this decline of large-scale manufacture, it continued to be a centre for cutlery innovation and production and over the past couple of decades has seen a revival in specialist, high end knife production. Today it is home to many workshops, housing master craftsmen making artisan and bespoke knives, keeping aflame centuries old traditions. Some of these are located in the very same Portland Works as their forebears.  

With a heritage like this, it is unsurprising that knife artisans are passionate about preserving traditional skills and techniques, as well as about using locally sourced and produced materials in their products. And of course it is not only in Sheffield that they may be found. Skilled bladesmiths have set up workshops across the country, producing knives made using a variety of techniques and traditions.  

Hand crafted knives are obviously going to be more expensive than their mass-produced counterparts, so are they worth the extra cost? And, over the long term, how do the costs compare? 

When you invest in a handcrafted knife, you are not only purchasing an implement that has longevity and character, but you are also keeping alive long held traditions and artistry. An individually crafted knife will have a life span of around thirty years and can be sharpened and mended as needed. This compares very favourably with mass produced knives which have a shorter lifespan and if they break, often discarded. Knife smiths will use locally sourced materials and techniques which are sustainable, having been used for centuries. So, you know you are investing in an item with excellent eco credentials. In addition, when you consider the cost of one of these knives with the cost of buying and replacing several mass-produced ones over thirty years, the initial expense seems much more reasonable. So, we have a single purchase which will last several decades, which is not only environmentally sustainable, but keeps alive centuries old skills, so pours money back into the local economy and brings with it a slice of history; what is there to say no to? Maybe you might start thinking of Christmas gifts? Or is there a special birthday coming up? Or maybe you could treat yourself… 

A final word to any blade smiths reading this who are not yet a part of our Craft Insurance family. We too are a family run business with several decades of experience in craft insurance cover. Like your products, our craft insurance cover is unlikely to come up cheapest in a search, but this is intentional as we aspire to sell cover that does what it says it will. Our basic package of craft insurance cover comprises product and public liability insurance, as well as professional liability insurance. As a family-owned business we communicate directly with all our amazing clients, either by phone or email, whichever suits you best. So, if you’re looking to update your cover, or considering what cover to take out for the first time, why not check out our website, send us a message or give us a call. Sam or Naomi will be here to answer your questions look forward to hearing about your unique and history filled business!