MICRO businesses, such as those making crafts, face a major challenge. They may be excellent at their craft but be less focused on actually running their businesses.

Because the craft sector is becoming increasingly important, particularly with more tourists visiting the region, specialist support groups are springing up all over the North-East to help those in the sector start to think like entrepreneurs.

With more of the population having larger disposable incomes to spend on luxuries, the craft sector is becoming more lucrative, with people working in such areas as wood, glass, ceramics and with jewellery.

Like the food industry, where farmers' markets and buying local produce are becoming more popular, the crafts industry offers consumers a unique, often local, product - a far cry from goods straight off a production line in Taiwan.

And local crafts fairs are becoming more popular, just like farmers' markets.

Pinning down statistics on the exact contribution of the sector is difficult, as the only surveys available bring in other areas such as advertising and performing arts, as part of the broader creative sector.

However, all told, this creative sector employs five per cent of people in the North-East - and it is growing.

Mark Adamson, the creative industries specialist advisor for One NorthEast, the regional development agency, said: "Creative people are attracted to creative places. The region was starting from a low base, comparatively."

He believes that by increasing the region's artistic profile with top-class developments such as The Sage, it makes the North-East a more attractive area for young artists to set up their businesses.

Developments such as the Biscuit Factory, in Newcastle, which claims to be Britain's biggest original art store, provide both an opportunity for designers to sell their products and studio space for them to work.

A recent survey by the Crafts Council and the Arts Council found that one in five craft workers were over the age of 60, which means the sector may grow further due to the pensions crisis, as everyone is expected to work later in life.

The survey also found that two-thirds of such workers were female and seven out of ten of the people surveyed worked from home.

Both those groups could be attracted by the increased flexibility offered by working in a creative industry, or by being self-employed.

Mr Adamson sees a positive future for the sector as more people find themselves with cash to spend on something unique.

He said: "There has been a gradual and general increase in disposable income, allowing people to purchase things on a discretionary basis.

"That leads to a greater number of people saying they know they can buy a standard production-run product but they want to be buying something where there is a direct relationship with the producer."

One support project for glass workers which began its life in Sunderland has been rolled out across the UK.

Cohesion, a network for glass workers formed by Sunderland City Council four years ago, is now operating nationwide.

The manager of Cohesion, Anne Tye, says the group has about 104 members, although people join and leave all the time and numbers are fluid.

She said: "Cohesion is everything from bead-making right through the various types of studio glass right on up to some very large structural and architectural installation work.

"The network was set up based on a research study. Glass workers in the region were asked where the shortfalls were in the business support agencies. The biggest call was for help marketing their work and promoting their businesses.

"We also support things like training and product development."

Members of Cohesion have the opportunity to share trade stands at craft and art fairs which they could not afford to go to alone, giving them extra opportunities to make contacts and find new markets for their work.

Mrs Tye added: "The idea is not so much about going out and selling directly, it is about affording them a platform.

"The people for whom it makes the most difference are the people who build on that. It is making a difference to an increasing number now."

Glass is only one part of the craft sector, with others working in wood, ceramics and other areas.

'We do it for the love of it'

Matt Roffe is a woodturner who pursues his craft mainly for the love of it.

Mr Roffe is a retired timber merchant from Cowshill, who is also a member of Durham Dales Crafts. The group has a shop at the Dales Centre in Stanhope, where all 19 members sell their wares and take turns as salespeople.

Products range from cards and candles to jewellery and wooden items, and the shop trades on providing the opportunity for customers to meet the producer.

Without coming together in this way, their businesses would not be viable but, by combining their efforts, the group is successful.

Mr Roffe said: "Woodturning is just something that I have done and keep doing it because I enjoy it.

"Most people in the craft business enjoy doing the work. I wouldn't make something that I didn't enjoy making, something just to sell.

"We do roughly two days a month in the shop and we share the rent, lighting, everything. By being together, it is very viable. I have been a member of the group for about seven years."

Mr Roffe was also a founder of Sunderland Woodturners Association. That group started with a meeting of six people and now has more than 100 members, showing the popularity of crafts of this sort, whether as a hobby or business.