was founded in 1964 and is an international, non-governmental, non-profit organisation recognized by UNESCO.
Its general objective is to strengthen the status of crafts as a vital part of cultural and economic life, to promote a sense of fellowship among the craftspeople of the world and to offer them encouragement, help and advice.

being one of the WCC’s five regional branches (i. e.: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America), shares the same objectives and works at implementing projects by :

• promoting the design-led crafts and applied arts in Europe
• building up a network of contacts in these fields
• collecting and spreading information thereon. (see also Activities)

It achieves this :

• by publishing directories and listings of the most important crafts and applied arts organisations, institutions, galleries, and magazines (it also circulates an information exchange newsletter)
• by giving prizes, such as the WCC-Europe Award for Contemporary Crafts and the European Prize for Contemporary Art- and Design-led Crafts.

It presently has members in the following European countries :

• Albania,
• Austria,
• Belgium (Flanders),
• Belgium (Wallonia/Brussels),
• Denmark,
• Finland,
• France,
• Germany,
• Greece,
• Ireland,
• Israel,
• Italy,
• Kazakhstan,
• Luxembourg,
• Malta,
• Netherlands,
• Poland
• Romania,
• Russian Federation,
• Slovak Republic,
• Spain,
• Sweden,
• Switzerland,
• Turkey,
• United Kingdom.