Investing in the Future of Craft

QEST is a charity dedicated to supporting talented and aspiring makers through training and education, strengthening the future of the UK's craft sector.

1990 Founded by the Royal Warrant Holders Association for Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother

2022 HM The King becomes QEST's Patron

£7.5m+ Awarded in total since 1990

900+ makers and conservators across the UK

130 traditional and contemporary craft disciplines

40k young people reached, helping them to discover careers in craft and conservation

Crafts we support

Keep scrolling to discover the extraordinary range of crafts supported by QEST.

A luthier works through the f-hole of a double bass with a setting tool, the bridge and strings in the foreground, warm workshop light.

Instrument making

From new commissions to careful restoration, keeping centuries of music playing.

A shoemaker hand-stitches a welted leather sole with waxed thread, the shoe braced on his knee, amber workshop light.

Shoemaking

Hand-welted and stitched with waxed thread, made to be repaired rather than replaced.

Hands weave pale rush across a chair frame, a curved seating needle working the strands tight, natural light on linen apron.

Rush seating

Woven by hand, strand over strand, on frames that outlast their seats.

A milliner pins glass-beaded berries and silk leaves onto a crimson velvet hat, dark studio backdrop, jewel-toned.

Millinery

Couture hats built from blocked felt, velvet and hand-beaded fruit.

A potter's hands wet with slip shape the rim of a porcelain bowl on the wheel, soft daylight, pale and calm.

Ceramics

Porcelain thrown on the wheel, shaped by water, pressure and practice.

And more than 120 other disciplines

Furniture making · bookbinding · embroidery · watchmaking · saddlery · basketmaking · stone carving · jewellery · glassblowing · thatching · letter carving · silversmithing, and many more.

Directory of Makers