Victoria Ajoku: What Happens When a Craft Runs Out of Makers?
Victoria answers the question through her work as a fan maker, manufacturer, and teacher dedicated to keeping the craft alive.
What happens to a craft when fewer people learn it, fewer people practise it, and an entire generation grows up barely knowing it exists? Fan making reached that difficult point in 2017, when it was classified as a critically endangered craft. For Victoria Ajoku, that classification raised a question that would form her professional life through her company called: Fan The Glory With Tori: how could she use her business to help give fan making a future?
Her answer grew from a relationship with fans that had started years earlier. In 2012, Victoria began collecting souvenir hand fans while also learning how to make accessories by hand, including jewellery. At the time, these interests were part of her wider creative curiosity. After completing her master’s in performance and creative research, however, they began to take a different direction. Her professional journey in fan making began in 2015, when she learnt and developed more skills in the craft. She began teaching, making fans to sell and fulfilling bespoke commissioned orders for clients. These experiences would later become the foundation of Fan The Glory with Tori.
Her interest in fans also had roots in her earlier creative experiences. During her master’s course, Victoria enjoyed learning and working with props on stage and decorating set designs for stage and theatre. This exposure made her naturally appreciative of fans in their many forms, from their practical role in performance to their visual and cultural significance. Her West African heritage added another personal connection. From childhood, she had been familiar with African Chieftaincy fans, giving her an understanding of their presence that came from lived cultural experience as well as creative study.
Around the same time, the wider craft community was beginning to take a closer look at heritage skills that were at risk of disappearing. In 2016, the Heritage Crafts organisation started accumulating research into viable, endangered and critically endangered crafts, bringing attention to forgotten heritage practices and the people committed to maintaining those different lines of expertise for future generations.
Then came 2017, when fan making was classed as a critically endangered craft. Victoria felt that the art form was badly dehydrated and needed a different kind of momentum. She felt a sincere and deep calling to revive the concept of the fan and give its wider occupation a new voice, face, person and business that could act as a fresh forerunner for the modern progression of this fabulous, multifaceted and ancient artistry.
There was another gap she felt strongly about. Towards the beginning of her professional career, there was a major lack of representation in two key areas: young people and those from an ethnic background. Victoria found herself naturally placed to fulfil both, while also bringing together her experience with fans in dance and singing performance. The combination of her gifting with fans is rare, and it became a distinctive part of what she could offer as a teacher and maker.
These experiences propelled Victoria to treasure what she could offer and build her own path as an independent artist, tutor and business entrepreneur. Today, her work through Fan The Glory With Tori brings together the skills she has gathered, the cultural connection she has carried since childhood and her belief that an ancient craft can continue to have meaning when someone is willing to learn it, teach it and give it room to evolve.
Vision Behind Your Craft
Victoria’s decision to turn fan making into a professional business came from what she saw missing within the sector. Diversity and inclusivity remain central to her motivation, particularly her desire to represent the Black community’s positive contributions towards fan-making in the UK. Fan The Glory With Tori was established with this wider vision in mind.
She was, and still is, inspired to stand for the Black community’s positive contributions towards fan-making in the UK. She had not seen anyone who looked and thought like her being seen on centre stage within the UK fan-making sector. The major lack of representation inspired her to be a positive voice and bring change to the fan-crafting industry.
Her vision and belief are that there is enough room for anyone who wishes to pursue fan-making. This mentality drives her work, including attaining the autonomy as an independent artist to carry out workshops that are inclusive, fun, educational, entertaining, and therapeutic. She had not seen this combination before offered in the UK.
It was the problems she previously identified that inspired her to play a role in transforming fan-making as a force for good. She is motivated by the understanding that if someone is able to identify a problem or gap in the market, it may be that they are the individual called to do something ground-breaking about it.
As a ‘mobile service,’ she is driven by the vision of ushering the craft to be tried by diverse people from diverse communities. She was aware that, if she was to see her dreams become a reality, then she would need to transform her hobby into a professional business that enables fan making to be learnt and experienced in new settings and environments that are non-traditional.
For Victoria, this means bringing fan making to the people right where they are so that participants of all ages, backgrounds, abilities, and walks of life can try the craft in a welcoming and safe environment.
Leadership Philosophy
Making the craft more accessible has also formed the way Victoria approaches leadership. She describes herself as sustainable and innovative. She is a leader, yet a humble entrepreneur who is also a solopreneur that’s open to collaborations, with over 50% of what she does taking place in partnership with other leaders, charities, organisations and businesses.
Her leadership style is vastly collaborative, with a balance of autonomy, alliance and ‘people empowerment.’
Over many years, her experiences and those of others showed her that traditional fan-making, in traditional fan-making settings, was somehow excluding many people by always being organised by the same people, same venues for the same old events, on a repeated annual cycle. This means that it is the same ears listening to the same voices that are speaking and being heard.
Through the decades, this sense of ‘gatekeeping’ has woven a false narrative around the craft that excludes the learning and appreciation of hand fans from the continent of Africa, for instance. Over time, this is concerning and harmful to the craft by giving the impression that fan making is only for a select type of people or members to be involved and excel as makers.
Many, including Victoria, refuse to comprehend this to be healthy for any endangered craft, as fans are made and used in all continents across the world.
She is guided in the values of making and being ‘the difference,’ by creating diverse styles and themes of workshops on offer. As a leader, her style is to unveil the hidden real truths of the industry in order to promote current and real future change. Hence, her company slogan, ‘Fanning the Way to Freedom,’ is said, shared, and in full motion by her, for the craft to be truly free.
Preserving Tradition Through Innovation
The question of how a traditional craft can remain relevant while adapting to contemporary interests has been central to Victoria’s practice. Her approach is to bring heritage and modern craftsmanship together, which is reflected in the work of Fan The Glory With Tori.
She tends to immerge together a mix of tradition with transformation. Teaching classes and selling eco-friendly folding hand-fans of various unique sizes creates a balance of both heritage and modern craftsmanship.
In addition, she was the first fan maker in the UK to introduce the techniques of paper marbling unto the making of handmade folding fans. In the UK, paper marbling is an endangered craft, while fan-making is a critically endangered craft. Combining the two crafts together has formed a transformational modern design of paper ‘marbled hand-fans’.
Building a Creative Enterprise
Turning fan making into a professional enterprise has required Victoria to find different ways of bringing the craft to wider audiences while maintaining its character. Incorporating fan-performance, the further arts of fan dancing and fan-singing performance, alongside the strategy of networking, has been super important in getting Fan The Glory With Tori known.
She is constantly sharing what she does through talks, demonstrations at craft events, and general business gatherings and occasions. She uses methods such as having her business cards on her and access to contact her through QR codes.
She also puts a lot of time and effort into social media to help in the broadcasting and archiving of her services and what she is up to. Furthermore, she carries out extensive research and field work, planning most collaborations a year ahead.
Partaking in newspaper, magazines and television appearances has and still plays a massive contribution in helping to promotes her business.
As she is the face of her own brand, the quality and authenticity remain intact as the workshops are conducted by her and fan accessories are made by her. This reassures her that nobody can fully do what she does, in the exact way she does it.
Challenges & Learnings
Building the business has also involved experiences that tested Victoria personally. Unfortunately, she has experienced severe discrimination, which felt like a ‘set-back’ at the time.
Though she has a unique talent, calling and gifting, the prejudice she went through, particularly at the beginning of her career, did leave her marginalized. It was very hard for her to find where she could be accepted, nurtured and supported in getting her skills and company known.
Through this, she discovered that one should form their own tribe within the communities in which they can be celebrated. From here, true authentic followers and supporters have found and encouraged her.
She has learned that one can never be ultimately ‘alone’; it’s more of a case of redirecting their community support system, which is vital to their well-being and growth.
She has also learnt that it’s crucial to gather with others to celebrate her wins, awards and achievement’s, including business anniversaries, scholarships and so on. People must believe that the great impact their organisation is having fully deserves to be known and applauded.
Empowering Others Through Education
For Victoria, teaching others begins with authenticity. Makers must embrace their true authentic self and let that come to the forefront of their craft-making career. Doing this is highly empowering as a maker, placing who you are in a better position to be received. She does not believe that anyone can fully separate who they are as an artisan from what they create as an artist. A person and their creations are always one.
Problems arise in crafts when people try to emulate others or a single model that has proven to work for one. There can never be a one-size-fits model. Makers must believe in their products and abilities; otherwise, nobody else will.
Victoria encourages people to remember to be confident, calm, and aim to show up, as the right connections may pass them by without them realizing it.
If they can develop their skills by solving problems, then this is a bonus as they are more likely to attain clients. Victoria encourages people to stay positive and remember that knowledge is power. They get out what they put in; therefore, they should keep themselves informed, research, read, learn, try new crafts, and take classes when they can in their own field but conducted by different teachers. This gives a new take on things.
She also encourages makers to speak to other artists and crafts people to grow from their life lessons too.
Strategic Decision-Making
Creative decisions still have to work within the realities of running a business. In everything, Victoria always tries to weigh out the pros and cons and uphold kindness and honesty to all clients.
Having an up-to-date diary is key. She always plans her time in order to consider her schedule and be realistic about what she can fulfil according to the set-up that she has.
She keeps informed about her field of work by being aware of past traditions and also current trends. This helps a great deal with customer expectations and long-term growth.
Victoria is aware of her strengths and knows the times of day in which she is most creative. She maximises this by forming the right environments to gather ideas down and make future plans.
Industry Evolution
Changes in customer preferences have also created opportunities for handmade businesses. The crafts industry has developed even more over the years as a provider of items that are bespoke, particularly when the crafted items are handmade.
As a craft-based company owner, Victoria has adapted this into a ‘fan-crafting marketing trend’, making and producing hand-fans of various sizes to suit the tastes of other businesses and individuals, including celebrants of special occasions.
Her work can also adapt to customers’ preferences via tailoring and designing the workshops to suit the client’s choice of theme and style, while still honouring the ethos and values of ‘Fan The Glory with Tori.’
Future Trends
The future of handcrafted products is increasingly connected to the way makers use digital platforms to reach audiences. Victoria sees the use of social media, including the trends of ‘going live’ to advertise products and services as well as answering questions, as an important opportunity.
She also sees the need for entrepreneurs to seek opportunities that involve ‘influencers’ coming alongside them to expand their brand, particularly those who are on ‘YouTube’, ‘TikTok,’ and ‘Instagram.’
Victoria believes that in the next 5 to 10 years, more makers of handcrafted products will be considering the possibilities of collaborating with suitable, like-minded influencers with high numbers of followers who can help them market, promote, and sell their artworks to a wider and international audience.
Achievements & Milestones
Recognition has become an important part of Victoria’s journey, and she is super proud and thankful for every single award win as well as all television appearances.
These include the BBC’s much-loved show, ‘The Repair Shop on the Road’, Channel 4’s ‘Stephs Packed Lunch’, and ‘Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmash.’
She is equally pleased and grateful to appear on Forbes, i News, The Sunday Telegraph, The Elite X, ‘The Executive Lens’ and more.
Leadership Impact
Victoria hopes to create a great impact that is of an international reach of fan teaching and fan manufacturing. She has taught in Spain and also in Amsterdam for the Ambacht en Bleed festival.
As an entrepreneur, she aims to see the craftsmanship of fan making re-enter new realms and areas of creativity, such as the beauty industry, ceramics, advertising, and industrial industries.
As an educator, she is working on creating a syllabus that qualifies learners to achieve a certified certificate in fan-crafting. For Victoria, it is important that the vocation of fan making is placed in a position to be revered as so much more than a ‘pastime’ or ‘hobby,’ but can in fact be a field of professional work of craftsmanship.
Future Vision
Victoria’s ambitions for the business are also moving into curation and investment. As the UK Ambassador of Fan Making, the future goal for Fan The Glory With Tori is to bring the right investors along to allow for further growth.
She envisions expanding her business and influence into being a curator of fans. Currently, she has curated two fan exhibitions in open public spaces. Victoria loves the authority and influences that gallery curation gives to share history and perspectives while transforming and uplifting a space.
Personal Motivation
The preservation of fan making depends, in Victoria’s view, on ensuring that the craft continues to expand. She respects the notion of being ‘fresh and current’ in order to equip the next generations to continue the craft on.
Her playing a significant role towards the journey of fan making has increased into new dimensions of ideas, which inspires Victoria to be a custodian and guardian of the craft that permits it to develop into new ventures.
Victoria believes it is imperative that critically endangered crafts should intend to be a blend of honouring the past, yet remaining open to change.
Advice for the Next Generation
For aspiring entrepreneurs, artisans and creative professionals, Victoria’s advice is simple: ‘come as you are.’
She encourages people to intend to show up in their true, authentic self. It is great to negotiate, but if an offer or idea arrives their way that is genuinely not within their core principles, then they should kindly refuse to compromise.
She also advises people not to be put off starting a business they are passionate about because they do not have a qualification in business studies itself. A qualification in business is wonderful, of course, and preparation and knowledge are good. However, being in the real world of business has taught Victoria that having real-life experiences in managing a business is necessary.
Everyone enters their business journey from different angles, so it is definitely not a one-size-fits-all.
She encourages new business owners to make the most of the wider craft societies that will support them, ask lots of questions, turn up and get involved.
So many new business owners are not contactable. It may be obvious, but many do not even wish to have a website, a working number that’s in use, and prefer not to use any form of social media. Without these things, she asks, how can their work and services be fully known?
Victoria has found it helpful to operate in separating one’s ‘personal-self’ from their ‘business-self’, making their ‘business self’ more accessible.