James Collins, one of the last Traveller tinsmiths in Ireland, welcomed the recognition of his craft offered by Unesco, but he wonders who will carry on the tradition after he dies. Though he cannot get tin any more, Mr Collins still makes billy-cans, pails and mugs from stainless steel in his Finglas workshop, using a tinsmith’s stake – like an anvil – on which he hammers, shapes and moulds the metal. Tinsmithing on Thursday it became one of some thirty practices named in the first national inventory of intangible cultural heritage. When he’d be running out of rivets I’d make them for him...The farmers needed us and we needed the farmers. It is a good thing that it’s being recognised as a craft, but who is going to do it?” Mr Collins told The Irish Times.

Source: The Irish Times July 18, 2019 19:25 UTC