Oax-i-fornia: Generative Intersections and the Design of Craft

Abstract

ABSTRACTOax-i-fornia is an interdisciplinary academic project that, since 2005, has brought design and art students together with artisans in Oaxaca, Mexico. The project's goal has been to create a transnational collaborative space fuelled by the notion of play as a generative force, allowing the collaborators to produce meaningful cross-cultural connections not commonly associated with brief encounters between visitors and locals. The project has been based upon the concept that craft, and tradition itself, are in constant evolution through historical interventions called “generative intersections”, and that tourism also functions as an important experience within studio-abroad programs. The outcomes of the project have been measured by the quality of the shared experience, and the ways in which that experience has changed notions of difference among the participants, rather than solely through the objects resulting from the collaborations. Today, Oax-i-fornia proposes a model for transnational design ed...