A network of partners has developed the programme ‘Handmade in Bruges‘98 in the spirit of promoting and safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage of craftsmanship in this city in Belgium, This partnership is endeavouring to realise a sustainable tourism approach in the context of over-tourism. One of its initiatives involves assigning recognition via the label ‘Handmade in Bruges, which is accompanied by a set of promotional activities. Among these is also a ‘city guide’ allowing tourists (among other people) to discover the city and its many craftspeople.
“Together with a broad network of creators and numerous other players in the city, Handmade in Bruges contributes to a tourism that pays attention to what lives in the city today and is made locally by many hands on a daily basis”99
- The initiative is local, tailored to the city’s context and it touches on many policy areas : “heritage, tourism, urban development, education…”.100 It makes ICH more visible and gives new impetus to tourism in Bruges. This project aims to connect tourists to artisan makers and products, and to shift to a more sustainable form of tourism in the city while taking into account “the vulnerability that is characteristic of intangible cultural heritage”.
- A label (Maker Handmade) is given to those craftsmen/makers who make a difference “through their technical knowledge, innovation and experimentation, skills and experience, family tradition, transmission, use of local raw materials, sustainability”.
- The city is crowded with tourists, making it hard for inhabitants to live and work normally, and testing its carrying capacity. It has also resulted in real estate prices becoming unaffordable, for example for (work)shops of craftspeople. The cultural programme of Handmade in Bruges is playing a role in shifting tourism into new and different areas, initiatives to mitigate the tourism impact and making a transformation towards a more diversified and sustainable urban life and tourism context, including ICH practitioners as inhabitants.
- Collaboration: “The whole process has been the result of a sustainable heritage strategy and extensive cooperation” between many stakeholders and ICH actors. Tapis Plein (Now ‘NGO Workshop intangible heritage BE) and the Bruges heritage network started to conceive the vision for this project in 2013, which was then validated by the City of Bruges’ council in cooperation, and has been continued since with many partners.
- This project was initiated in line with the UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, mediated by heritage experts and NGOs that are active in the 2003 Convention’s networks.
- 98 The city of Bruges & Republiek Brugge. Handmade in Brugge, Guide. Available at: http://www.handmadeinbrugge.be/english
- 99 Vandenbulcke, E. (2020), ‘Handmade in Brugge: een hefboom voor duurzamer erfgoed en toerisme’. Essay über ein ambivalentes Verhältnis, in: Adams, K. e.a. (ed), Immaterieel erfgoed als toeristische bestemming / Intangible Heritage as a Tourist Destination themanummer Volkskunde 121 (2020).
- 100 Vandenbulcke, E. (2020), ‘Handmade in Brugge: een hefboom voor duurzamer erfgoed en toerisme’. Essay über ein ambivalentes Verhältnis, in: Kathleen Adams e.a. (ed), Immaterieel erfgoed als toeristische bestemming / Intangible Heritage as a Tourist Destination themanummer, Volkskunde 121 (2020).
