The stained-glass maker: ‘It’s powerful, volatile… too overwhelming for domestic settings’
Thomas Denny makes windows that are not only pictures hidden in colourful patterns, but complex interweavings of naturalistic and biblical imagery, radiant and spiritual.
The neon sign maker: ‘Piccadilly Circus was our answer to Vegas – now it’s all pixellated screens’
‘Every time I come here, it blows my mind,’ admits Marcus Bracey as he approaches Gods Own Junkyard, his neon emporium in Walthamstow.
The putcher fisherman: Flying the flag for a dying way of life
Chris Cadogan, the only remaining fisherman to practice this medieval method on the Severn.
The sculptor: ‘Every day, I go into the studio in the morning and set about things. I don’t know any other way to live’
James Butler (MBE, RA, RWA, FRBS) is in his late 80s and still sculpting every day.
The glass-eye maker: ‘I make sure that the eye fits, but psychology comes into my work as well’
Jost Haas, the only remaining maker of glass eyes working in Britain today.
The ship’s figurehead carver: ‘It used to be a profession and every port would have had one, but now it’s a dying art’
In the expert hands of Andy Peters, pine is sculpted into a glorious array of decorative items, but the show-stopping figureheads that stand up to 15ft high are his bread-and-butter.
The glassblower: ‘When something goes wrong you can’t fix it – you just sling in into the bosh bucket and start again’
Ian Shearman's team of glassblowers are still making glass using a technique that's 2,000 years old.
The swill basket maker: ‘Even after 30 years, it’s still a challenge; every tree is different and each batch of baskets has its own journey’
You could travel many miles to find someone who relishes his working day as much as Owen Jones enjoys creating oak swill baskets.
The poppy maker: ‘I was very weak, very emotional and in a bad place when I started, but I’m back to my old self again now’
Wish Lloyd battled a traumatic childhood, the army, an athletics injury and homelessness to find his place at the Poppy Factory, making the poppies we wear every November.
The luthier: 'You don’t know if you’ve been successful until you put the strings on. That’s the moment when it comes alive.'
Tom Sands talks about his life making guitars – and pays tribute to his mentor, a 'cross between Gandalf, Yoda and Mr Miyagi from The Karate Kid.'
Credit: ©Richard Cannon/Country Life Picture Library
The Pigeon Fancier: 'I set up a deckchair in the garden and wait for them to come back. That’s the most exciting part.'
This week’s Living National Treasure is Colin Hill, a pigeon fancier whose birds regularly race from the tip of Scotland
The Florist: 'What I do is like good cooking – if you have beautiful ingredients, you can’t go wrong'
This week's Living National Treasure is royal florist Shane Connolly – and while he might be based in Britain, he's
The dry stone wall builder: 'Every metre of wall contains a ton of stone. You really feel it after a hard week.'
This week's Living National Treasure is Anthony Gorman, a man who has spent his life building beautiful walls by hand
The gold stamper: ‘The younger generation is very appreciative of artisan work – they’re the ones driving the trend’
This week's Living National Treasure is John Timms, the man who leads the team that stamps gold lettering into thousands
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‘Going around that track, in that Ferrari, was ecstasy of the most legal kind’: How to embrace your inner race car driverGoodwood’s ProDriver Experience is a chance for you to pull on a race suit and live out your childhood fantasies — no matter how tall you are.
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‘I get all twitchy when I see people wearing something that really doesn’t belong’: A watch for every summer occasionThere’s a watch for every social summer occasion, from the Mediterranean to muddy festivals. Chris Hall selects some of his favourites.
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Coco's crush: Chanel's century-long love affair with Britain and its menFor the past 100 years, Chanel — the person and the brand — has left an indelible mark on the UK and its cultural institutions. Amie Elizabeth White takes a look at how the relationship came to be.
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Canine muses: The English bull terrier who helped transform her owner from 'a photographer into an artist'In the first edition of our new, limited series, we meet the dogs who've inspired some of our greatest artists.
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The successor to the 'most beautiful car of the 20th century' is smooth, comfortable... and ends up highlighting everything that's wrong in car design todayThe DS No. 4 traces its lineage back to the Citroën DS, a car so extraordinary that people described it as looking 'as if it had dropped from the sky'. And while the modern version is more friendly to the earth, says Toby Keel, it's also worryingly earthbound.
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Richard Rogers: 'Talking Buildings' is a fitting testament to the elegance of utilityA new exhibition at Sir John Soane's museum dissects the seminal works of Richard Rogers, one of Britain's greatest architects.
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‘The perfect hostess, he called her’: A five minute guide to Virgina Woolf’s ‘Mrs Dalloway’To mark its centenary, Lotte Brundle delves into the lauded writer’s strange and poignant classic, set across a single summer’s day in 1920’s London.
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300 laps, thousands of tires, 24 hours of non-stop racing: Up close and personal at Le Mans 2025At this year's iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans, British car manufacturer Aston Martin returned to the race's top category — and they invited writer Charlie Thomas along for the ride.
