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The Crafts Associations represent handicrafts as a culture, skill and business. Artisans, counsellors and other clerical staff form the hub of these Associations. Altogether, around 300 people trained in the crafts and arts sector are directly employed by the Associations. The cornerstone of the Associations are the handicrafts centres, and crafts and arts centres, numbering approximately 140 in all. The first handicrafts centre was established in Joensuu in 1944, mainly to serve the needs of displaced persons after the war.
Today’s crafts centres operate as meeting places offering a broad array of services. Many of the crafts centres are weaving workshops where people can make the rugs and mats of their dreams. All the centres freely provide advice, while many also supply craft tools and raw materials. In addition, a lot of centres serve as sales points for articles made by people in their own area.
One important role of the Crafts Associations is the arranging of crafts courses and workshops. Since 1989 the Crafts Associations have managed, and steadily developed, handicraft schools providing basic instruction. The Associations assist arts and crafts enterprises through, for example, training and consulting in various aspects of the profession, providing marketing services like sales events and opportunities for participating in trade fairs, and distributing information.
Crafts and arts marketing outlets range from local sales events and shops to international trade fair stands and the Internet. The Crafts Associations are the main organizers of Crafts trade fairs and other sales events in Finland.
The Crafts Associations’ shops and sales offices market handicrafts, tools and raw materials.
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