A Portrait of a Creative Community

For Suzy, it all began close to home. “I went to commission a curtain rail from my local blacksmith, Greg Abel, in his Victorian forge,” she recalls. “It was like entering a time warp that was completely unaffected by the modern world.” That single visit led to one introduction after another, potters, weavers, woodturners, each connected through shared values and a love of craft. 

As a journalist profiling craftspeople for the national press, Suzy soon realised that her corner of the moor between Ashburton and Chagford was unusually rich in creativity. “Traditional skills in many parts of the UK are dying out, but here the craft scene is thriving,” she says. “It’s thanks to the landscape, the abundance of materials, and a collaborative community.” 

Along with photographs capturing craftspeople immersed in their work and foraging for their raw materials in epic Dartmoor landscapes, the book reveals the passion, painstaking care and integrity that goes into producing one-off goods. It discovers how modern-day makers compete with globalisation, explores the profound mental health benefits of working by hand, and why this remote and rugged corner of the UK draws so many creative souls. 

‘I interview and photograph 16 Dartmoor craftspeople, each of whom have a fascinating story. Three work in endangered crafts: letterpress printers who create their own ‘wild inks’ from foraged oak galls and hawthorn, an oak-bark tanner who repurposes waste animal hides to create beautiful leather goods, and a basket maker who has not only revived a long-forgotten traditional Devon basket, he’s brought it into fashion.

Others include a natural dyer who is helping to clean up the toxic petrochemical industry, a potter who forages for clay in Dartmoor streams, and woolsmiths who are the only remaining farmers to breed all the moor’s native sheep breeds’. 

Suzy’s photography captures not just the craftspeople, but their surroundings. The textures of stone, wood, and fleece; the dogs padding through workshops; the small, beautiful details that define a life lived by hand. “A more accurate title might’ve been Dogs of Dartmoor and their Artisan Owners!” Suzy jokes. 

Printed locally in Exeter by Wild Ink Press, the limited-edition hardback (only 750 copies) is a celebration of modern craftsmanship rooted in place. It also includes a fascinating directory of Dartmoor makers and a chapter tracing the region’s craft heritage back to the Stone Age. 

Endorsed by leading voices in craft and environmental journalism, Artisans of Dartmoor feels both timely and timeless, a portrait of a region that continues to create, collaborate, and inspire.