Starter Kit. Idea 390 of 500. Cluster 19
Heritage craftsmanship training: lime plaster, timber, tile, the trades the old buildings need
The mechanism, from the book
Eight World Heritage Sites and 2,300 years of records, and the country's story is told to the world by other people.
The first step
Find one older craftsman or craftswoman who still knows lime plaster or old timber joinery and ask whether they would teach three young people for a month, paid by the day. Then ask two restoration contractors or villa owners whether they would pay the trainees to work on a real job afterwards. A teacher's yes and a contractor's job is the proof.
- Who pays first
- A contractor or villa owner who cannot find anyone who knows the old trades and would pay for trained hands on a restoration job.
- What leaves today
- The trades the old buildings need are dying with their last masters; training keeps the skill, and the restoration work, on the island.
Ask first
- Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission. Ask how a heritage trades course could be recognised.
- Department of Archaeology. Ask which restoration jobs need trained traditional craftspeople.
Check before you spend
Insurance for trainees on real jobs, the contractor's written agreement to pay them, and that the work meets any rules for protected buildings.
Find out these three numbers
- What day rate does the master craftsman want?
- What would contractors pay trainees on a real job?
- How many restoration jobs need these skills each year?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.