Help Bring the Dorset Button Industry back to Dorset
Dorset buttons are handmade from embroidery floss or yarn, wrapped around a ring-shaped base.
The Dorset Button industry was started in Shaftesbury in the 1620s and became a major cottage industry in Dorset creating employment and income for many families.
By the 1780s around 4,000 women and children were employed making buttons.
When this industry came to an end after the introduction of a button making machine in the 1850s many families lost their main source of income and emigrated to Australia and Canada, including 350 families from Shaftesbury.
What do we want to do in 2012?
 We want to bring the Dorset Button making industry back to Dorset.
Create better understanding of the Dorset Button industry.
Develop the opportunity for a social enterprise based on the local heritage of the Dorset Button industry.
Create an opportunity through which people can collectively provide goods and
services around the industry.
How are we going to do it?
Organise workshops to demonstrate how to make Dorset buttons.
Increase awareness of this unique method of button making and its possible use in
today’s world through the local media, workshops and talking to organisations and
individuals who are already actively involved.
Create a directory of organisations and individuals who already make and sell
Dorset Buttons.
Create a directory of all museums and other organisations that hold a collection of
Dorset Buttons.
Hold a workshop to brainstorm the possible way forward for this project.
Are you interested? To show your interest please download and complete a copy of our Join the Campaign questionnaire. You can email your views and answers to Henry's Buttons |
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