Craft
Craft Imaginaries – Past, Present and Future.
Informed by history and critical theory, this article explores how the values represented by the craft disciplines (such as respect for materials, the environment, and manual labour) can counteract the negative legacies of industrialization (such as an emphasis on cheap mass production, and the incentivization of environmental and human exploitation). Craft cultures can generate new possibilities for society by creatively reviving the traditions of the past and holding space for new versions of modern life that are enriched by social integration, communal memory, a sense of place, and respect for labour. The authors name this generative potential “the craft imaginary.” They caution that while craft can inform social values in positive ways, there is a danger that these ethical positions can themselves become consumer products, while the traditionalism of craft can become rigid or overly nostalgic. To properly contribute to desirable futures, craft should remain adaptable and open to the influence of changing social conditions and new technologies, while grounding itself in the humane, place-based values that constitute its roots.
Bell, Emma, M. Tina Dacin, and Maria Laura Toraldo. 2021. "Craft Imaginaries – Past, Presentand Future." Organization Theory 2 (1): 2631787721991141. https://doi.org/10.1177/2631787721991141.
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Craft as Leverage for Sustainable Design Transformation: A Theoretical Foundation
According to the authors, the values represented by craft practices can offer new perspectives to present-day institutions, providing opportunities for changes in “mindset and posture” that are essential to the transition to a sustainable future. Craft practices can be considered ecological when they use renewable local materials and when the longer lifespan of the crafted object encourages a lower rate of consumption, and if they use locally appropriate technologies that minimize extraction and waste (486). Additionally, craft practices are often sensitive to regional ecology and human relations. This makes craft objects exemplars of “place-based” or ecologically grounded knowledge. Craft practices stand in contrast to mass production: value is placed on materials, place, process, and the attunement of the maker to the object. In this way, craft practices can be viewed as a philosophical or spiritual approach to material use that prioritizes a set of “authentic” values, ie. that individual places, people, and objects matter, and that beings and objects are not merely fungible (489). Finally, craft practices require both tacit knowledge and critical reflection (487). The practitioner uses multiple forms of intelligence while referencing place, memory, and culture, and this kind of integrative practice could be taken as a model for environmentally and culturally sustainable ways of transmitting knowledge. The authors draw connections between their concepts of craft and sustainability to a wide range of concepts from sustainable design and transition design theory, including green design, cradle to cradle, biomimicry, systems design, permaculture, eco-effectiveness, and cosmopolitan localism.
Zhan, Xiaofang, and Stuart Walker. 2019. "Craft as Leverage for Sustainable Design Transformation: A Theoretical Foundation." The Design Journal 22 (4): 483-503. https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2019.1613040.
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The Quintuple Bottom Line: A Framework for Place-Based Sustainable Enterprise in the Craft Industry
This article explores the ways that contemporary craft businesses can be looked at as case studies to illustrate new economic models. The authors draw on several alternative models that foreground sustainability, such as cradle-to-cradle, doughnut, and circular economics. They argue that the sustainability ethics of these models need to be embedded in business, so they propose a “Quintuple Bottom Line” that makes “purpose, profit, people, planet and place” the foundation of business decisions (1). The authors examine the craft practices of small business owners in Scotland and Nepal, finding that that craftspeople in both locations are sensitive to the influence and potential of place on their work. They find, for example, that a large percentage of the Scottish craftspeople wished to or had already taken steps towards making their businesses environmentally sustainable (5). In Nepal, the authors interviewed the owners of small social enterprises, and found many that relied on principles of circular economy. For example, many new businesses found material opportunities in the recycling of agri-waste into their products (9). Many of these emerging businesses also made use of traditional an Indigenous knowledge related to the ecosystems and farming practices of the area (11). In both countries, environmental awareness was high among business owners who often sought to reuse and recycle waste material when possible. This article highlights how environmental awareness can be integrated into the practices of businesses that make small scale material products grounded in traditional and place-based knowledge.
Panneels, Inge. 2023. “The Quintuple Bottom Line: A Framework for Place-Based Sustainable Enterprise in the Craft Industry.” Sustainability 15 (4): 3791. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043791.
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Knowing Through Making: The Role of the Artefact in Practise-Based Research.
In practice-based research, knowledge evolves out of creative practice. The art object is often the researcher's first response to a preliminary artistic, social, or design question. Because the process of making artefacts is central, it can be said that “invention comes before theory” in this method (Mäkelä). Whereas the scientific experiment is a series of steps that proves or disproves a hypothesis, the art object is an artefact of the creative process, and it retains significance as record of that “research.” The artefact is not secondary to the conclusions drawn from it, and the goal is not to arrive at an unambiguous interpretation of facts. Rather, practice-based research is qualitative: it proposes provisional answers to its initial question through the creation of an art object. The “correctness” of its answer lies in the scope of the interpretive possibilities that it then provides to others and the extent to which these lead to new ways of looking at the initial problem. Unlike “pure” artistic practice, practice-based research is self-interpreting. The art object raises new questions, and these are responded to by the researcher through more creative work and through writing that sheds light on the range of interpretive possibilities raised by the artifact. Practice-based research can be a useful technique for exploring the inherent value of crafted artifacts because it invites creators to simultaneously reflect on the knowledge embedded in the process of making the object as well as the social uses and cultural meaning of such objects.
Mäkelä, M. 2005. "Knowing Through Making: The Role of the Artefact in Practise-Based Research." In Binder, T. and J. Redström (eds.), Nordes 2005: In the Making, May 29-31, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark. https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2005.005
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Joy in Labour: The Politicization of Craft from the Arts and Crafts Movement to Etsy
This text describes the evolution of contemporary notions of craft, beginning with the Arts and Crafts movement that emerged in the UK in the late 1800s with figures like William Morris. Krugh describes the ideology of the movement, which was committed to the idea that craft workshops could be sites of fulfilling cooperative labour, unlike the increasingly mechanised and dehumanizing factory spaces that had emerged during the Industrial Revolution. She also explores the limits of the movement: communal shops required a conventional division of labour that emphasised the master’s vision over that of the labourer; many of the items produced were only accessible to the wealthy; and finally, despite the ideal of enrichment through craft, the work often verged on "sweated labour “(287). Nonetheless, the movement had a lasting impact on Western society’s view of craft as an activity that provides meaningful work, provides pleasurable leisure opportunities, and integrates labour and lifestyle in positive ways. Krugh compares the ideology of Arts and Crafts to home-based Etsy business, run largely by women who are seeking creative fulfillment as well as an income stream. She notes that crafters often begin an online business as a hobby that they increasingly want to monetize. Like the Arts and Crafts generation before them, they must often adapt their handicrafts for a degree of mass production if they want to earn a sustainable income. Krugh’s article illustrates the ways that craft can be liberatory, by allowing individuals to find joy in manual work, and she also identifies the market pressures that make such work difficult to sustain in the longer term.
Krugh, Michele. 2014. “Joy in Labour: The Politicization of Craft from the Arts and Crafts Movement to Etsy.” Canadian Review of American Studies 44 (2): 281–301. https://doi.org/10.3138/CRAS.2014.S06.
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