This project is designed to explore insights from four intersecting AHRC projects that addressed twentieth and contemporary cultures of craft practice and policy. Craft practice is currently part of the contemporary zeitgeist. Practices of DIY, knitting, up-cycling, sewing, hacking have become responses to austerity, environmental crisis and anti-capitalist actions. Government figures document that 102,000 people work within the craft sector, who together contributed £248 million Gross Value Added to the UK economy in 2012 (DCSM 2014). Trade and industry sees the celebration of 'Best of British' with small scale, bespoke or handcrafted batch production growing in market share, for an audience who eschew mass production and values the 'heritage' of British skilled labour. Practitioners producing hand crafted objects have unprecedented outlets to sell their work at festivals, studio tours or online, in addition to the traditional gallery or commission opportunities. Craft is again 'of the moment', but these moments carry with them the politics of past generations of practitioners and enthusiasts, who share skills, values and experience. Within the research undertaken, 'craft' has gathered as a complex assemblage of relations. The research undertaken sees craft within a circuit of production and consumption, where people, policy, materials, political ethos, skill, time, place, money, makers and buyers combine. The proposed activities within this follow-on-fund aim to bring into relief this nexus of mutuality that underscores the creative economy. The Crafts Council, the Devon Guild of Craftsmen and the Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen are working in partnership with Dr Thomas, University of Exeter to co-design three activities that illuminate different elements of the assemblage of the contemporary craft economy. Activity 1: 'Celebrate: 60 Years of Connecting Makers and Consumers through Craft', delivered in partnership with the Devon Guild of Craftsmen A nine-month exhibition, retail and online campaign that uses the Guild's diamond anniversary to explore the history of the Guild through the 'social lives' of crafted objects made by members of the Guild, past and present. The concept draws attention to the intersection between the Guild's function of connecting designer-makers to audiences through the outputs of skilled labour. The activities follow the stories of the objects as they pass through layers of ownership and develop attachments and stories that transcend the 'hand' of the original maker. Activity 2: 'Making collaborations: Making Connections', delivered in partnership with the Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen An online and touring exhibition that focuses on the Guild as an expanded community of practice and interest to reveal the everyday relations of mutuality that underpin creative endeavors. Dr Thomas' research explored the hidden histories of the Guild, for example the role of peer, family or customer support in supporting designer maker's enterprise. The research will be used to present an alternative history of the Guild, and trigger a community orientated history that explores the organisation's cooperative ethos. The history will be given a forward orientation as ten pairs of Guild member collaborate and produce new work for an associated touring exhibition that illuminates the ongoing politics and practices of cooperation. Activity 3: 'Making policy: Researcher in Residence', delivered in partnership with the Crafts Council Dr Thomas will be seconded to the Crafts Council to work with the Research and Policy team. She will contribute to the Crafts Council's strategic objectives by contributing evidence based research and knowledge to support the Crafts Council's mission to chart and anticipate economic, social, cultural and political trends in craft. Multi-media resources and briefings will be created to disseminate the research findings to audiences within the creative industries.