Craft, as observant readers will already know, is hot — in the sense that creatively it is flourishing. Which isn’t to say that all those involved in crafts aren’t as nervous about their economic prospects as everybody else. As Glenn Adamson, head of creative studies at the V&A, puts it in a lively essay on the subject: “There is no doubt a global craft revival is at hand,” he writes. “But to confuse this with a healthy and sustainable market in which people can actually make a decent living would be a big mistake.”

According to a survey organised by the Crafts Council, the pessimists fear that they could face the same fate as some of the mass-manufactured luxury goods whose sales are suffering. The optimists, however, think that craft could fill the gap for collectors who are now avoiding fine art or haute couture. So far the evidence is that they’re holding up pretty well. There has been a small fall in visitor numbers at recent major fairs but no fall in sales figures. Those who do buy are buying more.

Whether you’re thinking of buying or you just like to know what the creative set are up to, this weekend offers several treats. First off is the Craft Council’s Collect, the annual extraordinary gathering of some of the best hand-made craft objects in the world, which opens to the public tomorrow until the end of Sunday. There’ll be some 300 artists there and prices start at £500.

For the first time it will be at the light and airy Saatchi Gallery in London, which, as Glenn Adamson puts it, “sends a clear and unambiguous message; craft is right at home in the centre of the art world”. I haven’t seen the fair yet but I do know the work of a lot of the artists exhibiting and I have seen the beautifully illustrated catalogue (£20) and can tell you that much of the work on show and on sale is breathtaking.

Let me direct you to some of my favourites: Claire Curneen’s haunting porcelain figures look almost ethereal in their beauty and make one question where craft stops and art begins; Mizuko Yamada’s refined silver vessels, £4,250 (which you can often also find at the enterprising Flow Gallery, London W11) and Felieke van der Leest, who makes jewellery out of the unlikely combination of plastic figures, crochet work and precious metals. Tamsin van Essen’s “medical heirlooms” (from £1,175) are delicate and disturbing, with misshapen jars that look like they’re covered in a thin layer of frost.

Yuki Ferdinandsen’s Party Bag, £6,100, above right, is made of metal using a Japanese technique called arare (meaning hail): small hail-bullets are hammered out in different patterns to give texture.

The work of Kaori Tatebayashi transforms inanimate objects into endearing keepsakes — among her garments is this adorable hand-built stoneware cardigan (main picture; dress, shoes and shirt collar also available).

Next up, while you’re in craft mood, Craft Central, at two locations in London EC1, has what it calls Made in Clerkenwell: Summer Open Studios. More than 70 designers open up their studios from tonight (5pm-8pm) until 6pm on Sunday 17, offering a chance to meet the people who make the jewellery, fashion, ceramics, accessories in their creative milieu. Standards vary enormously but for those looking for more affordable and accessible craft, this is a good place to start.

Finally, Janice Blackburn has one of her occasional Small Show, Huge Talent exhibitions on at Sotheby’s today, tomorrow and on Sunday (but not Saturday). As usual, she’s gathered together some extraordinary, avant-garde work done by very young, mostly unknown artists. Ruth Gurvich works in porcelain that is so delicate it looks like paper. Maarten Kolk makes extraordinary pictures out of herbs and plants that he grows and dries and then fixes to fabric. Pernille Braun produces glass objects that look like ceramics. If you do buy, the money goes directly to the artist since there is no dealer involved. Blackburn curates the show out of a love of craft and Sotheby’s is donating its space.

Beautiful things are rarely cheap and if you go to any or all of these events — as I hope you will — you’ll see the astonishing techniques and skills that many of them require. But you can console yourself that the work of many of these young artists will cost a great deal more in the years to come. I do hope you will buy because as I keep saying if nobody buys these things the artists won’t be able to go on making them — and you’ve only to go to any of these shows to get a glimpse of what a pity that would be.

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