What is Craft to You?

I am a jeweller, working with found objects and I am obsessed with the idea of "craft".
Craft is about getting your hands dirty, about cuts and grazes, about sweat and passion. Most of all about passion. It doesn't matter what the medium, if the passion is missing, it is all worthless posturing. The great artists of the Renaissance were also craftsmen and recent years have seen the return of pride in that skill to the applied arts, a blurring of distinctions between "fine" and "applied" art and a reclaiming of a word that is still held - by some, at least - to be a signifier of something lower in rank than that of "artist".
Reclaim the word.
Revel in the visceral.
Wrestle with your materials.
Put passion at the top.
Get your hands dirty.
MAKE THINGS.

Craft is the use of traditional techniques to manipulate raw materials in the creation of an end product, useful or decorative. It implies some kind of learned skill.
Unfortunately the ill advised use of the word crafting on TV shopping channels selling packets of paper and stickers to make cards, negates the original meaning and understanding of the word and undermines those who have studied and trained in Applied Arts.

I am a self-taught artist pioneering a new technique of combining glass layers with enamel and slate. When people are being derisory they say that my work is merely "craft." When people buy my work and market my work they say its "art."
I am in happy ignorance of what the difference is - as it sounds most complicated. What I do best is shape the world that I love into a lasting thing that gives me pleasure and makes me feel complete.

Craft is a reminder to us about the need to reinstate the respect accorded to the simple and the ordinary in our lives. Crafts are a memoir of everyday practices executed with care, of local materials used with a recognition and respect for nature's contribution, of the primacy of the human over the machine, of seeing work as a vocation, of valuing ethics over commercial gain and the practice of self discipline instead of unbridled consumption. Finally, craft is a symbol of the true, the good and the beautiful in our daily life.

Craft is a branch of art that is primarily traditional.

Craft is a direct relationship between the maker and their work, giving each piece its own personality. This is something which can't be achieved in an industrial process so making craft more and more important. Techniques and workmanship are being lost as our demand for cheaper and more disposable items grow.

Craft is...perfecting a skill, a tradition that may be centuries old.
Craft is...adapting these skills for the 21st century.
Craft is...respecting the standards passed down through generations of craftsmen.
Craft is...producing something beautiful, desirable yet functional.
Craft is...creating an object that encourages discussion.
Craft is...about expressing yourself, your attitudes and feelings.

Craft can be said to be a technique or process of creating things (ART), using mostly the local available materials either to solve problems of basic needs, to beautify or to keep historical records.