Furniture, ceramics, footwear, textiles, tableware - the diverse crafts activity of the Comunitat Valenciana forms part of a highly valuable cultural and economic heritage to be protected and promoted. The Centro de Artesanía de la Comunitat Valenciana was created twenty years ago to support the crafts profession and to promote artisan richness among the wider public. 

What is the Centro de Artesanía?
The Centro de Artesanía is a public entity created in 1987 by the Generalitat Valenciana and the City Council of Valencia in order to promote and strengthen the crafts industry and the various crafts sectors’ consolidation and competitiveness in the Comunitat Valenciana using promotional, informative, training, analysis, assistance and co-ordination strategies. We develop the potential of the crafts collectives as an important  part of the Valencian productive fabric and in order to guarantee the survival of our artistic and cultural roots.

What has changed during the two decades of the Centre’s existence? In its beginnings, the Centre was exclusively dedicated to showing products in exhibitions. In 1997, through the decision of the sector’s representatives, it began crafts training courses for trade apprentices. Today, it offers cultural and informational activities for the wider public, as well as various support services for the crafts businesses of the Comunitat.

What type of activities are organised for the public?

The Centre has a varied public. Most are usually adults from the city and tourists who come to visit the exhibitions. During the school terms, city and foreign schools organise visits for students of different ages to the exhibitions, and programme parallel activities to promote the value of crafts. In September, the Centre started a daily visit for a group of primary school students who participate in supervised children’s activities in which they can learn and play with crafts.   

And for the sector’s professionals?
As well as the assessment of materials related to the crafts trade, the Centre offers a free e-mail service. There is also the possibility of appearing in a digital crafts catalogue of the Comunitat, sent annually to many tourist and commercial points both nationally and internationally. Promotional campaigns of products through exhibitions, the web site, and participation in unique projects, as well as organising training and informational activities are also carried out.

Are crafts activities in danger of disappearing? It is very difficult to predict the total disappearance of a trade. The fact that that there are no concrete economic data does not imply that there aren’t people who know or use them. However, the documentation, the restoration and treatment of bibliographic and film archives enable certain crafts to continue to be part of our culture and the Centro de Artesanía de la Comunitat Valenciana continues to work in this area.

How is the crafts sector coping with the crisis? As with any economic activity, the crafts are also affected by the crisis. Most of the crafts businesses of the Comunitat are micro-companies, and so have a greater possibility of adapting to new economic conditions. On the other hand, the crafts production creates exclusive, unique and high quality pieces, mostly acquired by a segment of the population at a certain economic level. The Centre is working to bring crafts into the life of consumers, putting on exhibitions, investing in publicity campaigns, disseminating the value of the crafts products, etc.. From the Conselleria de Industria, we have increased our support for the sector thanks to the Plan Especial de Apoyo a los Sectores Productivos Adicionalmente with the II Planes Sectoriales de Competitividad through which we have aided modernisation, training, the new technologies, and the attendance at national and international fairs.