Like the majority of my friends and family, I have been embracing crafty things through the seemingly endless UK lockdowns. I haven’t yet got into puzzles or sourdough but I have pickled things, made chutney, something approximating jam, and am currently deep down a cross-stitching rabbit hole. I’m staying with my sister at the moment and Sunday afternoons are beginning to look like a badly costumed scene from an Austen film with me cross stitching, my sister working on crewel work, my brother-in-law practising guitar and my three-year-old niece making surprisingly good progress with some aida, spare threads and a (very blunt) needle of her own. According to sales of knitting needles, embroidery kits, bread flour, puzzles and physical books we are far from alone in this.

What has this got to do with architecture? One of the most noted craft revivals in British design history – the arts and crafts movement – came from a reaction away from the industrial and impersonal. It reacted against unemployment caused by machines and embraced the soul and imperfection of the handcrafted. After a year of enforced appreciation of the local, a growing resurgence in realising just how beneficial it is to be in some way connected with your local community and a skyrocketing appreciation for all hobbies crafty, might we see another craft revival?

People are drawn to the traces of the human and the imperfections in the handmade.

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