Approaching sustainable development goals: Inspirations from the Arts and Crafts movement to reshape production and consumption patterns

Abstract

AbstractContemporary profit‐oriented development and consumption cultures have led to unsustainable behaviours and lifestyles and prevented our achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). This article explores how arts and aesthetics could form a trend of thought to reshape current production and consumption patterns. I argue that the Arts and Crafts movement of 19th‐century Britain provides many clues for today's industries and societies to create sustainable values, including its defence of labour value, promotion of arts education, and pursuit of nature and honest aesthetics. This article analyses the movement's historical contexts and vital propositions and associates them with the United Nations' SDGs. The implications are multidimensional and interconnected. Firstly, developing small‐scale and customised products or services that meet customers' cultural and life experiences might extend product longevity. In addition, such manufacturing transformation requires incorporating craft ideas into various industries and techniques and forging cross‐sector collaboration to enable open innovation and employment equity. Finally, enterprises could work with public sectors and cultural institutions to promote community empowerment and everyday aesthetics, cultivating public awareness of responsible production and ethical consumption. This paper provides interdisciplinary discourse to turn arts and crafts values into tangible schemes for sustainable development.