Contemporary Craft Research Articles

Communicating Identity: How the Symbolic Meaning of Goods Creates Different Market Types

This paper argues that the different symbolic meaning of goods (functional, status and taste) give rise to three institutionally different market types. We start from the realization that consumption has symbolic meaning, which individuals use to communicate and construct their identity to their social networks. We argue that the (the observable parts) of firm behavior including size, pricing and marketing strategies must be congruent with the symbolic meaning of goods. We distinguish between two stylized symbolic meanings of goods, status and taste, which we derive from the sociological and anthropological literature on consumption. We argue that these different symbolic meanings, used by consumers to construct and communicate their identity, give rise to three ideal-typical market types. We present the institutional differences between these market types as well as the implications for firm behavior. We demonstrate how firm behavior and marketing strategies in taste-markets, such as the contemporary craft and creative industries, differs significantly from markets in which the symbolic meaning of goods is relatively unimportant. We use the recent transformation of the beer market by the craft-beer producers, to illustrate the empirical relevance of our theory.

The Beginning of Korean Contemporary Craft Education and Its Characteristics

The Beginning of Korean Contemporary Craft Education and Its Characteristics

Handcraft as urban intervention: In recognition of the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Sewing Society

In 1851, in Rochester, New York, a group of nineteen women banded together as the founding members of an anti-slavery group in order to support the work of the abolitionist, writer, orator and newspaper publisher, Frederick Douglass. They were the benefactors of Frederick Douglass, himself regarded as the founder of the twentieth-century Civil Rights movement. They called themselves the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Sewing Society, although they dropped ‘Sewing’ from their group’s name in 1855. Yet the fact that ‘Sewing’ was included in the original name of this reformist group indicates the foundational role of craft not only as a guiding activity, but also as a key activist mechanism to abolish the institution of slavery. This article explains how a contemporary craft intervention in downtown Rochester, New York, involving 400 swatches contributed from across the United States, sought to honour and reclaim the history of this social-reformist group, at Corinthian Hall, the physical location where they held their abolitionist fundraising bazaars in the nineteenth century. That building is now a parking lot in the heart of central Rochester. Ultimately, yarn is argued to be a social-action tool to help reverse historic erasure in a crowded urban environment.

Bottled Up or Poured Out: How Product Name Emotions Affect Appeal and Authenticity

Although we know that product names influence audience evaluations of producers and their offerings, mechanisms behind the effect remain undertheorized. We propose that a classic psychological stimulus-and- response process is at play. Emotional contagion – ego’s propensity to experience emotions triggered by contact with alters or objects – suggests that product names that convey certain emotions to the consumers of these products will influence their evaluations. While the process is psychological, social context shapes the strength and valence in the stimulus-and-response relationship. We predict that the anti-mass production ideology and oppositional identity of contemporary craft markets (rooted in avid rejection of pecuniary motivation, template marketing, serial production and the like) produce reverse emotional contagion: Positively charged product names lead to negative evaluations of products and negatively charged ones lead to positive evaluations. We also predict a second-order effect of product name emotionality on appeal by way of perceived product authenticity which itself drives appeal in craft markets: Positive emotionality decreases authenticity perceptions and negative emotionality elevates them. We find empirical support for our conjectures in analyses of the U.S. craft beer industry between 1996 and 2012.

Experimental co-design of jewelry from Makalani nut: The case of contemporary techniques and indigenous craft in Namibia

ABSTRACT This paper studies creative possibilities of co-designing with the Makalani nut when crafting and jewelry manufacturing techniques meet. The study reflects on how the artisan craft of carving, based on a rich indigenous knowledge, and previously not yet included in the field of fine jewelry, could create new artifacts that could support selfemployment and income generation to the crafting indigenous communities of Namibia. The co-design experiments served as both methodological approach and method in this paper. Sessions proved a great core foundation for collaboration and created opportunity for documentation of both process and outcomes, while also highlighting tension points linked to the industrialization of these creative processes. The concern of the inevitable impacton the social fabric of the communities beckoned the question of how indigenous knowledge is impacted when it interacts with other knowledge systems – a question this paper aims to speak to.

Comparison as Collaboration: Notes on the Contemporary Craft of Hagiology

A workshop on “comparative hagiology” over the course of three years at the American Academy of Religion has yielded not only a series of articles but an experimental methodology by which scholars hailing from different disciplines and working in different fields might collaborate in threshing out commonalities and entanglements in their respective treatments of holy figures. This article’s response to the workshop identifies three pillars of general consensus among the participants that serve as promising footholds for aligned innovation in our respective fields: That hagiography (1) is constituted not only in verbal texts but in a wide array of media, both material and ephemeral; (2) is best interpreted by attending substantially to the “processes” of thought, life, and society in which it is rendered; and (3) opens possibilities of cross-cultural and interdisciplinary comparison by way of the many family resemblances in how saints (or more broadly, religious and even para-religious exemplars) are rendered in transmittable media and mobilized for a particular group’s benefit. The article concludes by suggesting vectors for further development on these grounds, indicating how the category of “hagiography” affords a resource for interpreting unauthorized and apparently irreligious phenomena akin to sanctification, and calling for a professional and pedagogical ethic of collaboration that extends beyond any particular scholarly fruits of hagiological comparison.

The Street and the Screen: Egyptian Tentmakers and Craft Online

The tentmakers of Cairo have a history of resiliently adapting their craft to the demands of the world around them. For generations, operating from small workshops in the heart of the historic city of Cairo, they have responded to local and international demand, as well as speculatively developing new products based on their own vision and understanding of their market. Today, these craftsmen, working in the decorative technique of needle-turned cotton-on-canvas appliqué known as khayamiya (from the Arabic for “tent”) and utilizing social media and the Internet, have developed new understandings of their craft heritage through engagement with global craft networks and international forums. The tentmakers’ craft practice is linked to changing uses and production of khayamiya, the vulnerability of Egyptian tourism, and local perceptions regarding the value of khayamiya as a craft. Despite fears relating to the sustainability of the craft, the future of the tentmakers gives cause for optimism.New international markets - namely western craft exhibitions specialized either in quilts and textiles - are changing khayamiya design. They bring a new appreciation of the craft for audiences with little previous exposure to Egyptian craft and heritage, supporting the competitive drive for higher-quality objects. Use of online spaces - Facebook, Etsy, and Instagram - challenge some of the foundations of the craft, such as who becomes a tentmaker, how their businesses operate, attitudes to the ownership of designs, and the introduction of new visual elements and business collaborations. This paper will review these forward-looking implications for Egyptian khayamiya, noting how the dynamics of the street and the screen are shaping global engagement with this contemporary craft. The research relies on conversations with the tentmakers and online research carried out by the authors in 2019.

The Repairer and the Ad Hocist

This article is motivated by the need to engage seriously with amateur dramatics as a subject of scholarly investigation, and pays particular attention to the craft involved in theatre making. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted with the Settlement Players, an amateur dramatics group situated in Letchworth Garden City, UK, I illuminate ‘ongoingness’ as an important characteristic of amateur theatre making – where the craft of set building relies on a constant cycle of making, unmaking and remaking again. Firstly, I explore how set building is entwined with repair and maintenance by looking at the ways in which the Players care for their limited supply of materials – where bent screws and tarnished hinges are meticulously unscrewed, unstuck, unfixed and stored away, ready to be remade in the next set. Following this, I explore the Players’ resourcefulness and problem solving by examining the ways in which they repurpose objects to create their sets. Here, I look to work on ‘adhocism’, a design movement that embraces everyday improvisation: using a wine bottle as a candle holder, a knife as a screwdriver – or indeed a set of industrial metal shelving units as the foundations of a set. Overall this article contributes to two understudied, yet emerging, areas of research: contemporary amateur theatre and amateur craft. In doing so, it also speaks to wider debates of the ‘amateur’ within the contemporary amateur turn, which this special issue explores.

Handcrafting Whiteness: Booker T. Washington and the Subject of Contemporary Craft

Handcrafting Whiteness: Booker T. Washington and the Subject of Contemporary Craft

Knitting – (wo)men’s occupation

Does a man who knits demonstrate courage? The question refers to the meanings attributed to knitting, which has traditionally been perceived as a female occupation performed in private space. In this article, referring to the past and the analysis of contemporary craft practice, I describe the process of deconstruction in this area. I am particularly interested in men knitting in public. The aim of my considerations is to analyze the difference between the meaning of what is male and female in knitting, and between hegemonic practice and subversive acts of deconstruction.

When heritage laws and environmental laws collide: Artisans, guilds and government support for traditional crafts in Tokyo

Abstract This article examines the legislative basis and operational effectiveness of the national and prefectural systems for designating and promoting traditional crafts in Tokyo. Traditional artisans participate in these systems primarily through their involvement in kumiai ('artisan guilds'), whose historical background and organizational structure are briefly summarized. To evaluate the usefulness of government support for contemporary craft practitioners, four broad and interrelated categories of kumiai activities are examined: promoting craft business, maintaining and enhancing craft skills and product quality, securing the future of craft traditions, and procuring craft materials. These goals are reflected in the frameworks of national and prefectural legislation that aims to support the efforts of kumiai. However, these goals and the resulting legislation have created a sustained discourse of tension palpably felt by many crafters themselves: the clash between laws designed to protect or promote 'traditional' crafts and other laws that aim to safeguard ecology or animal welfare. Examination of this tension as it is understood and discussed by artisans themselves reveals that, although the positive impact of traditional craft designation systems is widely recognized, it is also perceived that incompatible environmental protection laws can negatively affect their business and threaten the long-term sustainability of craft traditions.

현대공예의 구상적 표현을 통한 내러티브 유형 연구

현대공예의 구상적 표현을 통한 내러티브 유형 연구

공예 교육을 통한 현대 공예 문화의 대중화 방안 연구 -해외 공예 교육 사례를 중심으로-

공예 교육을 통한 현대 공예 문화의 대중화 방안 연구 -해외 공예 교육 사례를 중심으로-

Sahaj Crafts: the challenge of alleviating poverty in Western Rajasthan

Learning outcomes The learning objectives of this case are as follows: identify and understand the major challenges/problems faced by a social enterprise in promoting handicraft business; examine the value chain architecture of handicraft products; assess the role of the protagonist (Sanjay) as a social change agent in shaping a successful social enterprise; assess Sahaj Crafts' initiatives and analyze whether the key intervention/s planned/executed were required for skilling up of rural artisans and upgradation of handicraft business; know the marketing strategies for handicraft products; and understand the “strategies” which need to be applied for uplifting people's lives at the bottom of pyramid in general and for enlivening of artisans’ clusters in particular. The outcomes are as follows: examining the value chain architecture of handicraft product; understanding the difficulties and challenges of structuring a viable social business model; examining the role of Sanjay as a social change agent in shaping a successful social enterprise; and examining the model of Craft Incubation Center and design education proposed by Sahaj Crafts for improving rural artisans’ livelihood and skills upgradation. Case overview/synopsis Sanjay Joshi – the promoter and CEO of “Sahaj Crafts” (a social enterprise established in Western Rajasthan, India), an initiative to strengthen indigenous skills and mainstream rural craft products and artworks – is faced with the question of how to scale up his organization’s operations. Doing so requires that he address these fundamental challenges in terms of – how to deal with unorganized craft communities; match up product orientation to market demands; integrate modern technology / processes in craft business; combat restricted mobility of women artisans; and make effective interventions so that the artisans learn and enjoy working in the current model and solve the financial issues faced by the social enterprise. Providing effective and implementable answers to those questions is vital to Sahaj Craft’s development in attaining its mission to alleviate poverty in the region. Failing to expand operations above a critical scale may leave Sahaj Crafts vulnerable in meeting sufficient demand for contemporary craft products in the mainstream markets. Complexity academic level This case study is primarily suitable for post-graduate level management students to teach the concepts of designing and operationalizing a “social” business model in a social entrepreneurship module. This case study can also be used for highlighting business model innovations in the social sector of emerging markets. The case could be taught in the following academic domains: social entrepreneurship; bottom of the pyramid; social inclusion; supply chain consolidation (vertical integration in a value chain); marketing strategies for handicraft products; branding; brand positioning; cost and management accounting. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

Healthy feet between theory and technique: (re)constructing Camper’s ideal shoe

This article shows how the (re)construction of objects based on historical, textual sources can give us insight in how such sources may have functioned in their original context. In addition, they make us reflect critically on the development of their long-term reception history, and – through a ‘material turn’ in the history of science – can lead to a ‘historical turn’ in contemporary craft training. The connection of Camper’s 1799 text on shoemaking with the early modern obsession with regimen allowed it to retroactively become the theoretical foundation of a field that relied almost exclusively on practical, technical instruction and the development of material literacy until the early twentieth century.

Object Handling with Contemporary Craft Objects: An Observational Study of an Embodied, Social and Cognitive Process

This study focuses on the ways that people interact around contemporary craft objects. The ambiguous quality of these objects holds people’s attention and inhibits autobiographical narratives. The study focused on the relationship between the perceptual language used by participants and the ways in which they interacted with the objects. The analytical approach taken here begins with close observation and careful description of single cases and working towards valid generalisations rather than imposing an interpretation from the outset by explicitly positing a hypothesis. Six pairs of women were invited to participate in object handling conversations in an art museum setting. The conversations were recorded using digital video cameras. Analysis treated interaction as an embodied process and drew on work, which interprets interaction the outcome of social and cognitive processes. We found that the interplay of language and action shifted fluidly throughout the conversations. Not all actions were verbally expounded on and these could only be interpreted tentatively. Utterances could change the meaning or purpose of an action without any apparent change in the dynamics of the action. When attending a complex quality, such as the material nature of an object, the relationship between language and action was correspondingly complex. Participants used a variety of frameworks to understand the objects and these shaped the qualities of the objects that they attended to. Participants’ words and actions could usefully be interpreted in terms of meaning rather than just social action and with reference to findings from cognitive research on perception and action.

The Workmanship of Risk Meets Reality TV: The History Channel’s Forged in Fire

Recent years have seen a distinctive revival in blacksmithing and bladesmithing as seen within the genre of Reality TV in the form of the History Channel’s Forged in Fire series, which competitively pits bladesmiths, farriers, and blacksmiths against each other to produce knives and historically based weapons. This article examines the cultural representation of this craft and shows how David Pye’s classic concept of the workmanship of risk helps understand the representation of craft within the series. However, his concept of risk is rearticulated in an artificial way due to against-the-clock challenges instilled by the format of the series. Furthermore, the article explores the ways in which makers respond to such challenges and exemplifies Howard Risatti’s conception of the expression of poiesis within their metalcraft work. As such, although a Reality TV series, Forged in Fire can be situated as a potent representation of the craft production of bladed weapons and metalwork that consistently explores the technical nature of the craft and stresses the extent to which traditional skills such as bladesmithing and blacksmithing are being practiced in vibrant professional contemporary craft communities. However, the simulated and spectacle-driven nature of the series does raise questions concerning how television represents craft practice and is compelled to artificially dramatize it.

Towards design hybridity: Negotiating traditions through contemporary craft making in Finland

Abstract This article discusses how contemporary craft and design practitioners negotiate and apply ‘tradition’ in the materiality of creative making. By doing so, it aims to demonstrate how hybridization is crucial to an innovative renewal of traditional craft practice. With the data derived from two design competitions, the article proposes a new conceptual framework that unpacks the mobilization of ‘tradition’ in terms of three design strategies: the preservation strategy that concentrates on maintaining traditions, the application strategy that modifies and hybridizes traditions and the transformative strategy that subverts and changes tradition. The study argues that traditions can offer a point of reflection through the materiality of creative practice. Finally, it is concluded that artisanship today regenerates the new vernacular that redraws its own dependability and authenticity from the negotiations between the contemporary maker and the very materials that are being used in these negotiations.

KNIT + RESIST: placing the Pussyhat Project in the context of craft activism

‘We did it! We created a sea of pink!’. On 19 January 2017, one day before the Women’s March on Washington, it is estimated that a hundred thousand Pussyhats had been made and distributed. The hats were part of an initiative called the Pussyhat Project. Calling upon knitters, crocheters, sewists and feminists, the Pussyhat Project aims to mobilize the handmade for the purposes of increasing the visibility, representation, and awareness of women’s rights in general, and of women’s rights activists at the Women’s March on Washington in particular. Since its inception, the Project has received numerous accolades and criticisms in mainstream and social media. In particular, the Project has been lauded as an example of craft activism or craftivism. This article explores the Pussyhat Project in relation to craft activism and contemporary craft in the Global North, particularly in terms of gender, race, class, and space. This article provides a critical context for examining the Pussyhat Project, a context that is largely missing in both celebrations and criticisms of Pussyhats thus far. Such contextualizing broadens discussions about the Pussyhat Project. In doing so, it contributes to on-going considerations about how to engage craft as a tool of substantive, feminist social change.

The Crusoe Condition: Making within Limits and the Critical Possibilities of Fiction

Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) is a perennially popular narrative, repeatedly retold in Robinsonades from science fiction to Hollywood blockbusters. Despite substantial academic interest in the novel, Robinson Crusoe has received little attention in craft or design history. This is surprising given the centrality of making to the novel, which could offer a useful tool for interpreting contemporary craft and design practice. This paper therefore offers a twofold making-based exploration of the novel: the first half explores what kind of maker Robinson Crusoe was, and what his making can tell us about craft. The second mobilizes the making in Robinson Crusoe to examine a selection of works by designers from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Although diverse, their designs can be all read as Robinsonades: defined as necessity-driven and narrative-led making within multiple limits that I define as the Crusoe Condition.