Britain’s vellum industry is booming, quietly | Hacker News Reader

Britain’s vellum industry is booming, quietly

economist.com

"The market has shifted from monks to megayachts (vellum makes a lovely sofa). But his company is the last vellum maker left in Britain. The lack of competition is good for Mr Wright but bad for the craft in general."

I'm not sure I'd call an industry with ONE maker left "booming" but it is a short look at one niche among many that are dead or dying.

"The loss of craftspeople can change the look of a nation. "

Yup. There are plenty of ultra-rick people buying highly-refined and labor-intensive luxury products for their yachts. That cannot be the basis for any serious economy. And as another commenter noted, one producer does not make a boom. I don't think it even qualifies as an industry.

If there are plenty of them, and they are ultra-rich, and they are buying, why can't it be the basis of any serious economy?

It can be the basis of an economy. But it will always be a very inefficient if you measure efficiency in terms of societal value with respect to the societal effort put in to create that value. Why? Because it necessarily entails a large section of our production being focussed on a small proportion of the people. And even ignoring issues of fairness, diminishing marginal utility means that those people don't derive nearly so much value as that same effort directed at the masses would create.

It can be an economy, but more of a disneyland economy totally supported by an external flow of cash. Someone has to make the energy/food and provide services for the masses before those masses are available to make luxury goods for the rich.

I still don't get it.

Are you telling me you grow your own food and make your own energy for your computers used for coding?

Plus, Disneyland (ie Tourism/entertainment) seems like a pretty serious economy to me.

The mentioned 'red list' of endangered crafts:

https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/redlist/categories-of-risk/

Does anyone know if lists like this are maintained fro other countries? It would be fascinating to see the states of various crafts for all countries.

Clog making? We should probably add witchfinding to the list of happily-dead professions. Times change. Some jobs disappear.

>> "Compass making NEW FOR 2021"

Really? There isn't a single company making a compass? All those people building specialized electronics for satellites and military aircraft and none of them include a compass in their products? Or does "compass making" only mean the old-fashioned floating needle compasses that were long ago replaced by electronics?

1) It will be for the UK, not the world

2) It clearly states it's for magnetic compasses, it does not include solid state compasses.

https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/compass-making/

3) I do not understand why your writing tone has such indignation.

Because I see far too much time/effort/money being spent on the "protection" of certain crafts while more practical things are being left to rot. Tax dollars should only be spent on heritage crafts once the economically-relevant trades are protected. At the moment places like Britain are hemorrhaging tech skills and knowledge.

Si vis pacem, para vellum.

Si vis bellum, para oleum.

For those who are curious, this is a Latin pun. The original, "si vis pacem, para bellum" means "if you want peace, prepare for war."

If it is made from a baby calf, I prefer it go extinct.

All dairy products are made from cows birthing calves.

I don't know. That seems wasteful. I'd rather they use the skin, instead of just throwing it away after processing the veal.

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