Advancing sustainable craft practice

Craft Masterclass: advancing sustainability in your practice with QEST and Heritage Crafts

The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust’s first masterclass for 2025 explored how makers can practically enhance sustainability in their craft practice. The winners of the 2024 QEST and Heritage Crafts Sustainability Award; glass artist Allister Malcolm and jeweller and metalworker Rachael Colley, brought the issue of environmental sustainability to the forefront within the craft sector and championed different practices. The event was hosted by QEST’s Katherine Dunleavy and Heritage Crafts’ Daniel Carpenter.

Allister Malcolm, a glass artist with 25 years under his belt at Stourbridge Glass Museum, shared how he fell for glass after seeing it in action. He explained that the energy crisis acted as a catalyst for him to seriously address the carbon footprint of his practice, tracking energy consumption during the glass making process, and then significantly adapting them to reduce the studios carbon footprint.

Rachael Colley, a Sheffield-based jeweller and metalworker, talked about her practice which uses food waste, often gifted to her, to create jewellery, drawing on her own experience with an autoimmune disease. She finds inspiration in historical methods of preserving materials and works with museum collections.

Both Rachael and Allister highlighted that being environmentally responsible is a continuous journey. Rachael is currently exploring her work further through a fellowship, including collaborations with other makers focused on biomaterials. Allister’s studio has now completely stopped using gas, and their next focus is understanding the environmental impact of their sourced materials.

Link to the Craft Masterclass on YouTube.

Applications for the 2025 QEST and Heritage Crafts Sustainability Award are open, running until Tuesday 1 July. Apply or nominate a craftsperson or microbusiness today. Click here to find out more.