2025 was a year of transformation. This was the year we formally became the European Crafts Alliance. More than a change of name, it marked a shift in how we work and how we serve the sector. Today, the ECA brings together 40 organisations across 23 countries. We successfully closed the Crafting project and launched CraftsNet, a €1.2 million EU co-funded initiative that will shape our work in the years ahead.
A SHARED DIRECTION
In May, under the glass roof of the Grand Palais in Paris, we presented the Crafting Europe Manifesto 2025 at Révélations, an event organised by our member Ateliers d’Art de France. The Manifesto sets out a clear six-point action plan for the future of crafts in Europe. It has since been translated into seven languages, including Georgian, Slovenian and Dutch, and is being used by members as a shared reference in national and European policy discussions on crafts.
SUPPORTING WORK ON THE GROUND
Much of our work happens quietly, through direct support to members and their initiatives. In 2025, we supported the launch of the first German Crafts Award, organised by the Bundesverband Kunsthandwerk, and contributed to several high-profile exhibitions, including (w)aardewerk by Crafts Council Nederland, a pioneering initiative on sustainable ceramics showcased at HOW&WOW during Dutch Design Week and presented at the Hangzhou Cultural and Creative Industry Expo in China.
Through our financial support scheme, which ran throughout 2025, we supported 22 member-led activities across Europe. These took many forms, including networking events, training programmes, promotional initiatives, youth-focused workshops and heritage-led projects. During the European (Artistic) Craft Days 2025 alone, we funded 39 grassroots initiatives and 10 national member programmes, collectively reaching over one million visitors across the continent.
EXCHANGE AND EXPERTISE
Alongside funding, we invested time in shared learning. Members and stakeholders came together in Bratislava to examine safeguarding practices with ÚĽUV, and in Barcelos to work with CEARTE and the Barcelos Municipality on preparing for the new European regulations on Geographical Indications.
We also published three sector studies this year, focusing on production and business opportunities, digital integration, and how the sector addresses the Creative Europe priorities of economic growth, sustainability or social inclusion. These reports provide a practical evidence base for members working with public authorities and partners. When the EU Regulation on Geographical Indications for Crafts and Industrial Products came into force on 1 December, we published a clear and accessible guide to help crafts organisations, practitioners and interested audiences navigate the new framework with greater ease.
BEYOND BORDERS
Our work increasingly connects Europe to wider conversations. In 2025, we signed a cooperation agreement with the Asia-Pacific Crafts Alliance, opening new channels for exchange beyond Europe. Alongside this, we advanced our long-term projects across Europe, including Tracks4Crafts, Reskilling Crafts, and make-a-thek (which brings makerspaces into libraries). Together, these initiatives are strengthening skills, fostering knowledge exchange, and building sector resilience across borders.
In September, over 1,000 attendees from 65 countries followed our Annual Conference co-organised by Norwegian Crafts in Oslo, where discussions focused on positioning crafts within today’s economic realities. Our work also extended to the international fair circuit, with the ECA Capsule Exhibition presented at Contemporania 2025, co-organised by CCAM, in Barcelona, at the Palau de Pedralbes, featuring the two winners of the MAESTRIA Prize organised by our member BeCraft.
Whilst all of this was taking place, we continued to support individual makers. Through Craft Your Online Market, developed with Etsy, 25 artisans from five countries strengthened their digital presence. Their work is presented in an online Lookbook.
LOOKING AHEAD
2026 opens with focus, reach and shared momentum. We kick off the year in January with a Knowledge Exchange Programme co-organised with our member Mad’in Europe in Brussels and Antwerp focused on EU policy, paving the way for our General Assembly in Florence in April. Co-organised by Artex, it will be held alongside the 90th anniversary of MIDA, the world’s longest-running crafts fair. The European Craft Days, initiated and organised by L’Institut pour les Savoir-Faire Français, will return from 7 to 12 April under the shared theme With Heart and Soul. We will once again help shape the event’s visibility, this time through the financial support for the 2026 Country of Honour.
We will continue our financial support scheme for members and launch new tools and initiatives, including the ECA Podcast series. We will also roll out the Craft Enterprise Facilitator Programme and a digital training programme designed to equip member organisations with the skills and tools needed to support craftspeople in their local and national contexts. Furthermore, we look forward to presenting the findings of our ECA-funded research on the relationship between crafts and well-being in the Spring of 2026.
Thank you for being a significant part of the journey. We were polished in 2025. We are ready to shine in 2026.
Wishing you happy holidays and an inspiring New Year!
visual: EACD 2025 in Latvia, Workshop Ancient Wisdom, photo: Eva Koljera; ECA Annual Conference 2025, photo: Norwegian Crafts; ECA Capsule Exhibition at Contemporania 2025, photo: ECA; KEP Crafts Safeguarding Practices, photo: ÚĽUV; Crafting Europe Manifesto 2025, photo: Sadhbh Mowlds; Geographical Indications, Filigree filling, photo credits Municipality of Gondomar – Gondomar Turismo; ECA Symposium at REVELATIONS2025, photo: Adrien lgm