Still In Practice

British folk practices are the everyday traditions people continue to act upon. They appear in seasonal celebrations like St Swithun's Day, an occasion still referenced each summer as a way of reading the weather ahead. As well as in carol singing, Bonfire night rituals, childhood games like ring-a-roses and the familiar summer habit of making daisy chains. It is within this lived, informal culture that the work of the Ffern Folk Foundation begins.

Founded by fragrance brand Ffern, the Foundation awards an annual £50,000 grant to individuals and collectives shaping British folk practices today.

Ffern, a Somerset based perfumery founded in 2018 by Owen Mears and Emily Cameron, set up the Foundation to support folk as a collaborative practice. Now in its second year, the 2026 recipients reflect a contemporary understanding of British folk as something lived through land, language and shared activity just as Ffern’s approach to fragrance is rooted in seasonality, land and process.

Their perfumes are released in quarterly editions, created from natural ingredients and designed to develop with time. The Foundation extends that same philosophy into the cultural sphere, funding work shaped by tradition and shared effort. It is not a branding exercise, but a commitment to the activities through which British folk continues to function, including growing, building, performing and singing.

That intent was visible from the outset. In its inaugural year, the grant was awarded to Boss Morris, the all female Morris dancing group whose workshops and performances reframed the form as something communal and current. 

The 2026 recipients reflect a similar shift across different forms. Urban agricultural initiatives such as Manchester Urban Diggers bring British folk knowledge into city environments, using planting, harvesting and shared meals to make food production a socially interactive act. Elsewhere, folk practices take on a more theatrical scale.

The Lost Giants works with the British tradition of community giant making, constructing large figures built collectively from lightweight frames and fabric, for display during festivals and parade events. Lifted and carried through the streets, the giants pass above the crowd, briefly slowing the movement of the town. 

The scope of the Foundation’s support is reflected in the work of The Black British Folk Collective who lead Black contributions to British folk through song, research and gatherings, whilst the Welsh theatre company Flossy and Boo are readying to create Dwyri, a bilingual performance for young children, introducing folk stories through movement, landscape and play.

British folk here feels less like a performance and more like a well used footpath, visible only because so many people have walked it. 

The recipients were selected by the Ffern Folk Foundation’s Guild, including Zakia Sewell and Sam Lee. Sewell, a writer and broadcaster, has long traced the social life of British music, radio and storytelling, while Lee is a folk singer and song collector whose work is rooted in traditional song from Britain and Ireland.

Alongside other members of the Guild, their involvement points to a belief that these practices remain useful only when they are lived, adapted and carried forward. Not fixed in time, but kept in motion, by the people who continue to use them.

Learn more about the Ffern Folk Foundation here.