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 was Quartz.
These have been combined into a social enterprise, a community interest company (CIC) which exists to help give people access to their Heritage. It generates income through the hard work of employees, Freelancers, and Voluntary Activity. However any surplus generated, after covering overheads including paying people a living wage for their work, is used to broaden expectations and overcome obstacles faced by people in accessing their full heritage and 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 adaptations to survive the Covid years they formalised this and formed the CIC.
Community Interest
You can have a look at what we have accomplished in the last three years as a CIC by viewing these Social Audit Reports. They describe the ways in which we have been meeting the challenge of making heritage accessible to people.
2024 report coming soon
Please get in touch to find out more and become involved.