Young Workers Seek “AI-Proof” Heritage Crafts Amid Automation

Entry-level positions in accounting, software engineering, junior law and even creative fields are increasingly being automated by inexpensive AI tools. Commentators note that a university degree no longer guarantees a stable career, prompting many recent graduates to look for occupations that rely on manual dexterity and judgment—skills that current AI systems cannot replicate.

The Guardian

Heritage trades such as bookbinding, metalwork and theatrical prop-making have seen a surge in applications. Ludlow Bookbinders in Shropshire now hosts a second-year apprenticeship for a politics graduate who left the digital sector. The company estimates fewer than 50 practicing hand-bookbinders remain in Britain. Design house Cox London received more than 160 applications for just two metalwork apprenticeships launched last year. The National Theatre reported that a single apprenticeship role attracted 728 applicants in the most recent recruitment round, far exceeding the 100-application norm of earlier years.

The Guardian

Paul Kidson, chief executive of Ludlow and a fourth-generation bookbinder, stresses that the craft’s reputation is “terrific” worldwide but that formal training collapsed in the early 1980s, leaving the industry to train its own talent. Joanna Reynolds, chief executive of the Folio Society, says the publisher deliberately avoids generative-AI tools, believing that “supporting the creative world” is essential amid mounting pressure on artists. Nicola Cox, co-founder of Cox London, observes that applicants are drawn to the “closeness” of working with materials and the “AI-proofness” of hand-made art. Kath Geraghty, head of technical qualifications at the National Theatre, explains that the surge in applications reflects a difficult job market for young people, while also highlighting the theatre’s goal of building a more representative creative workforce.

The Guardian

• “People are discovering that, as everything is already decided for you by a computer or algorithm, being able to make or own something physically is good,” — Eryn Lawley

The Guardian

• “British bookbinding has a terrific reputation across the world, but like so many things in the 50s, 60s and 70s, the training just started to dry up,” — Cox London Paul Kidson, Ludlow chief executive and a fourth-generation bookbinder

The Guardian

• “Our apprenticeships are partly about the need to create a more representative workforce, both for the National Theatre and for the [wider] creative sector,” — Kath Geraghty

The Guardian