The name Wordsmithcrafts was initially chosen by Simon Lidwell when he started an artistic experiment fusing wordsmithing – hammering thoughts into reality – with crafting. This involved developing lots of short and longer term projects. Cluaran was one of these projects, as is Quartz.
This has been formed into a social enterprise, a community interest company which exists to help give people access to their Heritage. Any surplus generated, after covering overheads including paying people a living wage for their work, will be used to broaden expectations and overcome obstacles faced by people in drawing on the past to create the commonweal.
The CIC currently has two directors, Gary and Simon.
They have been working together since the turn of the millennium on projects like “Medieval Methil”, school visiting tours of Scottish Islands, and of course, blacksmithing. During the Covid years they formalised this and formed the CIC. You can have a look at what was accomplished in their few years as a CIC by viewing these Social Audit Reports.