What happens to the human brain when we work with our hands, and what do we lose when we stop? How can repetitive manual activities help us navigate stress, burnout, and digital disconnect? And as artificial intelligence tools alter how we think and create, how do we protect the unique, physical experience of the human touch?

Shaping materials is often discussed as a form of cultural heritage or economic utility. But as this conversation suggests, the act of making matters deeply to our health. From the cognitive benefits of repetitive motion to the stark daily realities of running a creative business, this episode explores the profound intersection between manual craft and human wellbeing.

In this episode of Craft Matters, Adriana Campo brings together three distinct perspectives to explore how arts, crafts, and manual work impact our minds and our society.

We hear from Tom Bensari, woodworker and furniture designer who walked away from a corporate career as a lawyer and CEO; Célia Macedo, an architect turned full-time ceramicist; and Dr. Sirpa Kokko, a Professor of Craft Science at the University of Eastern Finland and co-author of the European Crafts Alliance sectorial study on crafts and wellbeing.

Together, they explore what it means to heal, learn, and thrive through our hands.

In this episode:

• Tom Bensari, woodworker and furniture designer, Poland To see Tom’s work, visit https://www.bensari.design/

• Célia Macedo, ceramicist and former architect, Portugal To explore Célia's projects, visit https://www.celiamacedo.com/

• Dr. Sirpa Kokko, Professor of Craft Science at the University of Eastern Finland, Finland Learn more about her research and the ECA report: https://uefconnect.uef.fi/en/person/sirpa.kokko/

Learn more: New to Craft Matters? Listen to Episode 1 to understand the policies shaping the sector, and subscribe so you don't miss our next episodes coming this September!

More about the European Crafts Alliance: ⁠europeancraftsalliance.org⁠

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Credits:

Host and producer: Adriana Campo

Continuity announcer: Rachel Kelly

Story editor and dramaturg: Ana Kuntarič Brodersen

Executive producer: Laura Miguel Baumann

Produced by the European Crafts Alliance

Music: The Walking Song by Adam Ben Ezra (album: Hide & Seek)

Disclaimer

Co-funded by the European Union. The views expressed are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the granting authority. Furthermore, any views or opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily represent those of the European Crafts Alliance.

About the European Crafts Alliance

The European Crafts Alliance is an independent non-profit network representing over 40 member organisations across 25 European countries. It works to strengthen and support the crafts sector across Europe.

The podcast

The podcast Craft Matters is a podcast by the European Crafts Alliance exploring the people, policies, and practices shaping craft across Europe - from independent makers to cultural institutions and decision-makers. Through interviews, stories, and field recordings, the series reveals how craft lives, evolves, and contributes to Europe’s economic and cultural future.

Käsitöö. Artesanía. Rzemiosło. Kunsthåndverk. Rokodelstvo

How do you say "craft" in your language? How do you say “craft” across Europe? What does that word actually mean to the people who live there?

In this documentary episode of Craft Matters, we travel from Scotland to Georgia, and Sweden to Malta, bringing together over twenty voices to answer that question.

Listen in as we build a sonic mosaic across the continent. Adriana  explores how different countries view their craftspeople, the shared struggles of keeping traditional knowledge alive, and the beautiful, unspoken language of working with hands that unites every craftsperson, no matter where they live.

Hear  this special  European choir!

Featuring voices from: CEARTE (Portugal), UL’UV (Slovakia), ARTEX (Italy), Consorci de Comerç, Artesania i Moda de Catalunya (Spain), Malta Crafts Foundation, Norwegian Crafts, Danish Crafts & Design Association, Craft Scotland, Consortium of Craft Centres of Slovenia, Michelangelo Foundation, Mad’in Europe (Belgium), The Swedish Crafts Centre (KHVC), Georgian Arts and Culture Centre, Cyprus Handicraft Service, Bundesverband Kunsthandwerk Deutschland (Germany), Crafts Council Nederland, Stowarzyszenie Nów. Nowe Rzemiosło (Poland), Fundación EOI – Fundesarte (Spain), Hungarian Heritage House (Hungary), ACAB (Denmark), and the L’Institut pour les Savoir-Faire Français.

New to Craft Matters? Listen to Episode 1 to understand the policies shaping the sector, and subscribe so you don't miss Episode 5!

More about the European Crafts Alliance: europeancraftsalliance.org

Follow us on Linkedin│Instagram│Facebook│Youtube

Credits

Host and producer: Adriana Campo

Continuity announcer: Rachel Kelly

Sound editor: Johan Chandorkar, Umamiproduktion

Story editor and dramaturg: Ana Kuntarič Brodersen

Executive producer: Laura Miguel Baumann

Produced by the European Crafts Alliance

Music: The Walking Song by Adam Ben Ezra (album: Hide & Seek)

Disclaimer

Co-funded by the European Union. The views expressed are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the granting authority. 

Furthermore, any views or opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily represent those of the European Crafts Alliance.

About the European Crafts Alliance

The European Crafts Alliance is an independent non-profit network representing over 40 member organisations across 25 European countries. It works to strengthen and support the crafts sector across Europe.

The podcast

Craft Matters is a podcast by the European Crafts Alliance exploring the people, policies, and practices shaping craft across Europe — from independent makers to cultural institutions and decision-makers. Through interviews, stories, and field recordings, the series reveals how craft lives, evolves, and contributes to Europe’s economic and cultural future.

Can the physical resistance of stone or wood be taught through an online screen? How do physical limits and budgets fuel creativity? And as artificial intelligence ushers in an era of "mind-made" objects, how do we ensure that handmade craft does not  become a luxury only for the wealthy?

Learning a craft is often romanticised as a beautiful, intuitive process. But as Swedish swordsmith Peter Johnsson points out, true mastery actually means getting comfortable with disappointment, and learning to navigate the constant "mismatch" between the perfect vision in your head and the reality in your hands.

In this episode of Craft Matters, Adriana Campo speaks with three guests,  who approach the realities of craft education from different angles.

We hear from Peter Johnsson, a world-renowned master swordsmith; Sébastien Mainil, an architect leading heritage training centres in Belgium to keep traditional building skills alive; and Siyu Liu, an emerging contemporary designer and basket weaver based in Barcelona.

Together, they explore,  what it actually takes to master a craft.

In this episode

• Peter Johnsson, Master swordsmith, Sweden To see Peter’s work, visit https://swordreflections.com/

• Sébastien Mainil, Acting Director (Directeur f.f.) at the Walloon Heritage Agency (Agence wallonne du Patrimoine), Belgium Learn more about the training centres: https://be.linkedin.com/company/agence-wallonne-du-patrimoine-awap

• Siyu Liu, Architect, contemporary designer, and basket weaver, Barcelona To explore Siyu’s projects, visit http://www.creatforfun.com

Learn more

New to Craft Matters? Listen to Episode 1 to understand the policies shaping the sector, and subscribe so you don't miss Episode 4!

More about the European Crafts Alliance: europeancraftsalliance.org

Follow us on Linkedin│Instagram│Facebook│Youtube

Credits

Host and producer: Adriana Campo

Continuity announcer: Rachel Kelly

Story editor and dramaturg: Ana Kuntarič Brodersen Executive producer: Laura Miguel Baumann

Produced by the European Crafts Alliance

Music: The Walking Song by Adam Ben Ezra (album: Hide & Seek)

Disclaimer

Co-funded by the European Union. The views expressed are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the granting authority. 

Furthermore, any views or opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily represent those of the European Crafts Alliance.

About the European Crafts Alliance

The European Crafts Alliance is an independent non-profit network representing over 40 member organisations across 25 European countries. It works to strengthen and support the crafts sector across Europe.

The podcast

Craft Matters is a podcast by the European Crafts Alliance exploring the people, policies, and practices shaping craft across Europe — from independent makers to cultural institutions and decision-makers. Through interviews, stories, and field recordings, the series reveals how craft lives, evolves, and contributes to Europe’s economic and cultural future.

When we look at a piece of fine jewellery, we notice the shine of the metal and the precision of the design. What often remains unseen is everything that came before it. Years of practice. Repetition. Patience that is difficult to measure.

In this episode of Craft Matters, Adriana Campo speaks with master goldsmith Pura Ferreiro. For more than 30 years, Pura has worked with granulation, an ancient and highly demanding technique in which tiny spheres of gold are fused, one by one, onto a surface.

It is slow work. It cannot be rushed.

Behind the finished pieces also lie questions.

What does it actually take to build a life around this level of craftsmanship? How do you sustain a practice that resists speed? What does mastery cost, financially and personally? And what happens when careful, time-intensive work meets an economy built on scale?

In this episode

Pura Ferreiro, Master goldsmith and granulation specialist, Munich.

To see examples of Pura’s work, visit https://www.puraferreiro.de/

Learn more

New to Craft Matters? Listen to Episode 1 to understand the policies shaping the sector, and subscribe so you don't miss Episode 3 coming next month!

More about the European Crafts Alliance: europeancraftsalliance.org

Follow us on Linkedin│ Instagram│Facebook│Youtube

Credits

Host and producer: Adriana Campo

Continuity announcer: Rachel Kelly

Story editor and dramaturg: Ana Kuntarič Brodersen

Executive producer: Laura Miguel Baumann

Produced by the European Crafts Alliance

Music: The Walking Song by Adam Ben Ezra (album: Hide & Seek)

Disclaimer

Co-funded by the European Union. The views expressed are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the granting authority.

Furthermore, any views or opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily represent those of the European Crafts Alliance.

About the European Crafts Alliance

The European Crafts Alliance is an independent non-profit network representing over 40 member organisations across 25 European countries. It works to strengthen and support the crafts sector across Europe.

The podcast

Craft Matters is a podcast by the European Crafts Alliance exploring the people, policies, and practices shaping craft across Europe — from independent makers to cultural institutions and decision-makers. Through interviews, stories, and field recordings, the series reveals how craft lives, evolves, and contributes to Europe’s economic and cultural future.

When we talk about craft, we usually imagine hands, clay, wood, and textiles. We rarely imagine glass, steel, and signatures. But somewhere between the laws written in Brussels and the workbenches in the workshops, there is an invisible connection we do not often stop to look at.

In the first episode of Craft Matters, presented as a micro-documentary, host Adriana takes us on a journey through the European craft ecosystem. We explore the distance between policymakers and practitioners, revealing how laws, institutions, and skilled hands are deeply interconnected.

What happens to the European identity if we lose the skills to make things with our hands? And does the system truly understand the hands it governs?

In this episode

• Cynthia Ní Mhurchú — Member of the European Parliament

• Cristina Mendes — President, European Crafts Alliance; Deputy Director, CEARTE

• Hugh Roche Kelly — Independent woodturner, head of workshop at the Sonian Wood Coop

• Evy Lenoir — Traditional roofer; President, Union of Heritage Craftspeople (UAP)

Learn more

Discover more about the European Crafts Alliance at europeancraftsalliance.orgFollow us on Linkedin│Instagram│Facebook│Youtube

Credits

Host & Producer: Adriana Campo

Continuity Announcer: Rachel Kelly

Story Editor & Dramaturg: Ana Kuntarič Brodersen

Executive Producer: Laura Miguel Baumann

Produced by: European Crafts Alliance

Original Music: The Walking Song — Adam Ben Ezra (from the album Hide & Seek)

 Disclaimer

Co-Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the granting authority. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Furthermore, any views or opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily represent those of the European Crafts Alliance.

 About the European Crafts Alliance

The European Crafts Alliance is an independent non-profit network organisation representing over 40 member organisations across 25 European countries, dedicated to strengthening and supporting the European crafts sector.

The podcast

Craft Matters is a podcast by the European Crafts Alliance exploring the people, policies, and practices shaping craft across Europe — from independent makers to cultural institutions and decision-makers. Through interviews, stories, and field recordings, the series reveals how craft lives, evolves, and contributes to Europe’s economic and cultural future.