Craft Process Research Articles

Innovative Research on Traditional Tie-dye Craftsmanship under the Concept of Circular Design

As sustainable development becomes a global consensus, the concept of circular design has been widely applied and researched in various fields, especially in the innovation and inheritance of traditional crafts. The circular design concept offers a new perspective and method. This article, guided by the concept of circular design, discusses how to apply this concept to traditional tie-dye craftsmanship with the goal of achieving sustainable development and innovation in tie-dye techniques. Through an in-depth analysis of the traditional craft process, material use, and cultural significance of tie-dye, a series of innovative paths are proposed, exploring new design directions and market potential for tie-dye products. Introducing the concept of circular design into the exploration and practice of tie-dye craftsmanship not only helps to address current environmental and market challenges but also provides new ideas and methods for protecting and inheriting this traditional craft and promoting its development towards more sustainable and innovative directions.

The evolution of craft work in the strategic development of a family enterprise

AbstractResearch SummaryCraft firms characterized by a humanistic approach to work face a tension between adhering to pure craft principles and embracing industrialization. This challenge is heightened in family‐controlled craft firms, striving to uphold tradition while adapting to change. This study examines how craft work evolves along the trajectory of entrepreneurial development through a case study of Thun, a third‐generation family craft firm. We identify a set of mechanisms and four configurations—pure, technical, narrative, and ecosystemic—through which craft work evolves over time. These configurations not only preserve traditions, but also infuse them with entrepreneurial spirit, reinterpretation, and deep innovation. This study contributes to the craft work literature by moving beyond static perspectives and revealing the dynamic interplay between different craft configurations.Managerial SummaryCraft firms, which emphasize a humanistic approach to work, often struggle with the tension between preserving traditional craftsmanship and embracing industrialization. Our study of Thun, a third‐generation family craft firm, provides practical insights for managers by identifying a set of mechanisms and four configurations—pure, technical, narrative, and ecosystemic—that show how craft work can evolve over time. Managers can use these configurations to balance tradition and innovation, and inject entrepreneurial spirit into craft processes. Our findings underscore the importance of managing this balance for sustainable competitiveness and fostering an entrepreneurial firm culture that supports both artisanal and industrial production. Our study also provides a practical guide for craft firms seeking to evolve strategically, ensuring the integration of tradition with contemporary entrepreneurial development.

Gold Artifacts from the Early Scythian Princely Tomb Arzhan 2, Tuva—Aesthetics, Function, and Technology

This article explores the extraordinarily rich gold finds from the Early Scythian princely tomb Arzhan 2 in the Republic of Tuva, southern Siberia (late 7th to early 6th centuries BCE), through the methodological framework of the chaîne opératoire (operational sequence), in order to reconstruct the objects’ processes of manufacture. Through an interdisciplinary study of the finds at the State Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, the principal author analyzed tool marks and surface morphologies, which allow for the comprehensive identification and documentation of the numerous techniques employed in the creation of the often very elaborate jewelry, decorated weapons, and other personal ornaments. The production of both individual pieces and extensive series of thousands of identical trimmings attests to the existence of complex craft processes and workshop organizations. The technological aspects of the gold finds impress through their diversity and outstanding quality, both artistically and in terms of their craftsmanship. As this article will demonstrate, the objects present the earliest evidence for a highly specialized goldsmith artform in southern Siberia.

A Friend to Milli Mörriäinen

Arts-based and creative learning processes should be utilised more in craft education. With the NaCra approach, craft processes are connected to other creative content, mainly narratives. This NaCra study explored pupils' holistic craft processes that incorporated stori-fied elements and the aim was to clarify the key elements of individual craft processes supported by storification. The study involved 12 pupils from the second grade (7–8 years old) in Finnish primary education. Despite the novelty of the holistic approach, all pupils successfully planned, created and evaluated their soft toys. The storification method permeated every stage of the holistic craft process, aiding not only the ideation and design phases but also motivation and increased concentration in the making and evaluation phases. The findings suggest that pupils' holistic craft processes incorporating storified elements work well together as a means for pupils to express their thoughts and imagination into assignments. Furthermore, storified elements make pupils' experiences come to life in the creative crafting process. Pupils should have more opportunities with holistic craft processes where the outcome is uncertain at the beginning of the process.Keywords: pupil, holistic craft process, crafting, storification, storified elements, soft toy

Designing Culture-intensive Artefacts. How the Design Process Interprets Craft Reiteration to Build Future Diversities.

The paper approaches the subject of traditional craft and local know-how from the perspective of design practice. The specific focus is on those fields of design that produce the so-called culture-intensive goods (Hesmondhalgh, 2002; Bovone and Mora, 2003), such as fashion, home goods and food. They are the result of recombination by design of a specific cultural capital into new shapes and meanings. Thanks to "Made in Italy" best practices context selected in those fields, the paper will discuss how design shapes future artefacts rooted in the reinterpretation of the past. On one hand, accessing craft culture and its reiterative attitude of transmission of identity and tradition along times. On the other hand, recombining craft processes into reconfigured practice, encoding different meanings into new narratives.

Cinnamyl Chalcone Based AIE Fluorescent Probes for Sensitive Detection of Hydrazine and its Application in Living Cells.

Widely utilized in the chemical industry and agriculture, hydrazine is easily absorbed by living things and can cause physical harm when in touch for an extended period of time. As a result, a novel cinnamaldehyde chalcone C5 was produced by Friedel Crafts process and aldol condensation reaction. Triphenylamine was used as the raw material for hydrazine determination in both reactions. Chalcone C5 exhibits significant AIE behavior in a mixed mixture of ethanol and water in addition to having great selectivity and a low detection limit (0.119nm) for hydrazine. The solvent effect test revealed a linear relationship between the Stokes shift of C5 in the solvent and the rise in solvent orientation polarization. It is important to note that C5 is not harmful to MCF-7 cells, mouse kidney cells, or pig kidney cells. Furthermore, research on cell imaging has demonstrated that probe C5 may be utilized to image the fluorescence of hydrazine in active MCF-7 cells.

An "in vivo" analysis of crafts practices and creativity-Why affordances provide a productive lens.

Scholars are increasingly recognizing that creativity is grounded in the active sensorimotor engagement with the environment and materiality. Affordances-recognizable pointers to action opportunities in the ecology-provide a helpful prism for analyzing how this happens. Creative practitioners, as they seek aesthetic opportunities or innovation, depend on their sensitivity toward potentialities in their action space. Presently, we apply a high-zoom lens to a crafts process, giving our micro-genetic research design an affordance focus. By investigating one of the authors, a ceramicist and a practitioner-researcher, through her process of making of a vase, we tracked how affordances are responded to, developed, shaped, invited or, where necessary, rejected, as the ceramicist "routes" her creative trajectory. Several insights emerge: (1) The ceramicist's decisions-initially about general directions, then about aesthetic details-unfold while engaging with the clay; they emerge in stepwise fashion, but with a holistic orientation. (2) Choosing among affordances requires parallel sensitivities to object functionality, aesthetics and creativity, as well as technical feasibility; adhering to the proper technical procedure that provides the very basis for creatively relevant affordances to later arise. (3) While the hands and eyes engage with short-lived affordances the ceramicist must keep in view higher-timescale affordances that ensure a good task progression for making a vase, and affordances for the material's overall "workability". (4) The ceramicist typically relates to momentary affordances in light of expected as well as imagined others, to ensure a coherent end product. (5) Affordances contribute to material creativity in more ways than typically recognized in the literature. They range from serendipitous "finds" to options developed with a large degree of creative autonomy; affordances may also be indirectly invited and practitioners strategically change probability distributions as well as providing an enabling background for generative action. Thus, a crafts practitioner brings forth unconventional affordances through active engagement, using a mix of exploration, strategy, and imaginative potential. Affordance theorists err when stressing the possibility to just "find" creative options or that perceptual acuity is the sole skill.

Work descriptions written by third-graders: An aspect of disciplinary literacy in primary craft education education

This study focuses on disciplinary literacy in primary craft education. Disciplinary literacy refers to the specialised ways of reading, writing, and speaking in a particular discipline. In Finland, crafts is an obligatory school subject, and pupils are supposed to conceive and manage a complete crafts process, including documentation. However, disciplinary literacy in crafts has rarely been studied, let alone at the primary level. In this study, we explored the quality of a sample of work descriptions produced by third-graders. The data included digitally produced work descriptions (N=79) written by 42 third-grade pupils in a Finnish primary school. Based on a qualitative analysis, six main dimensions of work descriptions as a textual genre emerged: word count, crafts vocabulary, structure, spelling, multimodality, and self-assessment. The quality of work descriptions was analysed quantitatively according to scoring criteria based on these dimensions. A cluster analysis indicated that there were three groups of work descriptions with respect to their level of disciplinarity: limited, emerging, and advanced descriptions. The results show that the structure of the disciplinary texts develops first, and subject-specific vocabulary stabilises after that. The paper discusses the foundation for disciplinary literacy in primary craft education.

THE ISSUE OF THE LARGE DWELLINGS OF TRYPILLIA CULTURE

This paper aims at the analysis of remains of the Trypillia culture dwelling of a large size. The study includes the comparison of large houses’ inventory. More specifically, the analysis included the data from the cluster of ploshchadka from the settlement of Talianki (the so-called ‘Potter’s family I’ complex), which included five houses. The largest of these dwellings differs from the others not only by its size but also by the number and importance of the material.
 Besides this, the study included the dwelling remains of a size of 200 m2 and of a useful size of 100 m2 and more. Population estimates indicate the possibility of such structures’ inhabiting by 20―35 people. Therefore, the author proposes to distinguish ploshchadkas group by the parameter of their useful size for the whole Trypillia culture. Such dwellings belong to different periods of the culture. This distinguishing is exemplified by house remains from Ozheve-Ostriv. The analysis of dwellings’ inventory indicates that the Dwelling 3 was not only inhabited by a large group of people but it also served for conducting certain craft processes, i.e. tanning, flint knapping, bone and antler processing. Moreover, the inventory of this structure included a high number of weapons (arrowheads, spearheads).
 In general the author concludes that the large size dwellings of this group may be interpreted as men’s houses. Such dwellings were inhabited by the young people belonging to a certain sex-age group, and served for training in various fields of crafts and activities. Men’s houses were also used for gathering the male part of the tribe for magic rituals and feasts. Patriarchs taught young people the rules of common living and taboos of their society. This explains the dwelling size used to gather a particular or supposed number of the representatives of sex-age groups of patriarchs and young men.

Learning to become teacher researchers: a sandbox approach

This article describes the learning and teaching approach taken within a Masters level specialism in Literacy Education within the context of learning some basics of undertaking qualitative investigation. Participants working as members of self-selected teams kept informal records of their activity, talk, reading, artefact creation, and archiving of documents in the context of engaging in a craft activity intended to produce a meaningful gift for an intended recipient. This informal corpus of information was generated as a hands-on approach to learning about how empirical qualitative researchers collect good quality data. It was then used as a resource for learning in a hands-on way some basic elements of data analysis. The participants subsequently learned how to refer to a contrived purpose and relevant literature to make sense of the craft process they had engaged in, and to discuss what they think they had learned about their process. The focus is on the work of one team who engaged in knitting a set of fabric “alphabet coasters” for learners who respond to tactile resources. The first half of the article maps some broad contours of the teaching approach taken by the instructors, who also participated as peripheral members of the team by providing feedback and suggestions within its Google Doc. The second half recounts the main elements of what and how the students worked and learned, drawing on the content of their 6600 word report for the course and their Google Doc.

Co-crafting the social: material manifestations through collaborative crafts

ABSTRACT This paper examines how material craft processes align and orient participatory, open, and playful co-design into a constructive and capability-building activity. The paper suggests how materiality, tools, and craft agency gives a particular perspective on participatory and hands-on constructive craft processes. These co-design processes complement collaborative visioning to have participants engage tools and materials and help guide tangible outcomes in negotiated directions. Examining the case of a mobile craft workshop called Sloydtrukk, the text frames co-craft as a concrete social ‘construction site’. By emphasising the material and practical elements of collaboration, building together, and experiencing quick results of social processes, co-craft is a form of direct action or direct manifestation of participatory making. The paper examines a series of hands-on transformations that shape social-material manifestations of collaborative craft prototyping, where participants experience immediate results of their shared efforts. The hands-on construction differs from more abstract, discursive, and discussion-based forms of collaboration and co-design, where efforts focus on visioning and agreeing on future action. With craft processes, immediate needs are met with shared efforts, guided by material, practical and craft-based co-design, combining fast and slow prototyping processes that we call co-craft.

Digitisation of Traditional Craft Processes

An approach to the representation and documentation of craft processes is proposed. The proposed approach is a method for the systematic identification and digital representation of pertinent data, information, and knowledge. The outcome representation is compatible with contemporary digitisation practices and digital preservation standards. The implementation of the approach is provided within the context of an online platform that is accompanied by auxiliary tools for digital curation. This platform is a multiple user system, where craft representations can be collaboratively authored, shared, displayed, and digitally preserved in standardised formats. Basic uses of this scheme and presentational applications are provided, along with identification of future work and limitations.

Advancing Taiwan's traditional craft products: A modular product design model of manufacturing technologies

The compatibility between craftsmanship and industrial product design is an important axis of modern design development. This research seeks to integrate the craft process and industrial product design methodology to achieve mass production while maintaining characteristics of traditional craftsmanship. This study constructs an operational model to formulate appropriate strategies, present two craft cases, and utilize the triangulation method to explore synergistic effects between craft process and industrial product design. The conclusions reveal that craft materials, modules, innovation, and living technology are four key design features of the modern craft model. Moreover, this study proposes a new craft development model which applies the module concept to determine feasible market strategies that can be implemented to bridge the gap between craft and product design processes. Importantly, this study also draws upon theories and models proposed by previous researchers to explain how modern craftsmanship can be leveraged to establish market niches for mass-produced products. The concept of modern crafts facilitates cross-domain collaboration and integration, contributes to the field of traditional crafts and product design, and creates niche markets for traditional craft products. This novel approach can therefore be leveraged to advance the development of sustainable design, innovative material use, product recycling, innovative design concepts, and human-friendly design.

Emergent behaviour as a forming strategy in craft: The workmanship of risk applied to industrial-loom weaving

Digital tools such as computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) have expanded the nature of craft practice, offering new means of design and making. However, in weaving, handmaking continues to be privileged, despite the acceptance of digital design and computer-controlled lifting mechanisms. Through experimental design research methods, self-forming three-dimensional textiles were designed in CAD software and woven on a computer-controlled jacquard power loom (a CAM tool). The textiles’ three dimensionality arises from the combination of materials (contrasting shrinking and stiff yarns), structure and finishing. They are contextualized as craft objects through Pye’s concept of ‘the workmanship of risk’. As outcomes of a craft process, they illustrate the potential of industrial looms as tools for producing complex textile systems and expressions. The results include a method for crafting at the intersection of the workmanship of risk and CAD/CAM, providing a framework for this hybrid practice. The concept of emergent behaviour is discussed as a craft strategy when the workmanship of risk is focused on material forming rather than the tool or technique. This concept is contextualized beyond weaving, suggesting its applicability to other craft fields and practices, whether produced by hand or with the use of digital tools.

Craft is ubiquitous

This Special Issue presents a selection of contributions that seek to extend the idea of what craft practice and research can be. They stem from the conference presentations in the 1st Biennial International Conference for the Craft Sciences (BICCS), held online during 4–6 May 2021. This conference was initiated by the Craft Laboratory in Mariestad city, which is affiliated with the Department of Conservation, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. What counts as craft, and what does not, has been discussed with the general consensus that craft often evades definitions and instead thrives as an adhesive between other domains. In this editorial we claim that craft practice is ubiquitous, since acts of ‘crafting’ are infiltrated in most aspects of society, from the industrial workplace to the home. In addition to being a professional domain, craftmanship is also an attitude and a way of life. Craft making further facilitates shared reflective platforms which can carry and sustain cultural associations, or even social resistance, over time. We hope to invite readers to extend the notions of what crafts can be, by discussing issues related to such various topics as plant propagation, crystal growing, neuroscientific activity tracking, multimodal presentations of craft research and hybrid forms of digital and handmade craft processes. We also present an overview of educational contexts of crafts and discuss the role of the craft practitioner in heritage studies such as traditional boat building or industrial lace making.

A boatbuilder’s approach to boat documentation

Documentation of historical objects is already included in established research areas, such as archaeology and conservation. From a craft perspective, studies of objects can contribute to the understanding and revitalization of broken craft traditions. In this article, I present a methodological approach for the documentation of craft objects, including a comparison of traditional analogue methods and modern digital photogrammetry. From a boatbuilder’s perspective, I document traditional boats. In my current Ph.D. project, I investigate how documentation of objects, from a craftsperson’s perspective, can be used to reconstruct craft processes. The case study is on the ‘Öka’ from the Stockholm archipelago, a local variation of the Nordic clinker boat tradition. In this article, I present the basic structure of my boat documentation work and pinpoint some specific examples of the use of digital methods, analogue measuring and documentation led by craft practice. A good practice of documentation needs to consider the advantages and shortcomings of analogue as well as digital methods and also integrate the craftsperson’s perspective. Even if the craftsperson-researcher is skilled, artefacts have limitations as sources of craft knowledge, which must be taken into account in the interpretation process. An awareness of one’s own traditions and prejudices is needed to interpret a boat built in an older tradition. The documentation should be guided by craft practice, deliberately focusing on questions that reconstruction work generates.

Optimasi Promosi Digital Kerajinan Tanah Liat dalam Pelestarian Kearifan Lokal Desa Arjawinangun Dengan Pendekatan ABCD

The rapid flow of information and this digital era can bring new views in the community related to the promotion of clay crafts to maintain its existence because it is part of the local wisdom of the village. This study aims to describe the existence and popularization in the process of making pottery in Arjawinangun village and how the obstacles faced by pottery craftsmen in the promotion of the digital era with the existence of development steps in clay crafts in Arjawinangun village. The method used is qualitative, data collection techniques with observation and documentation. Data analysis techniques are carried out, namely reducing data, presenting (display) and verification. The results of this study indicate that some people are still producing pottery crafts, crafts produced in the form of rice pots (kanot bu), bellanga (beulangong), rice plates (pinee), cigarette ashtrays and cobek (capah). It is concluded that pottery craftsmen in promotion can use the digital era while the clay craft process in Arjawinangun village goes through several processes, namely: soil processing, pottery formation, pottery drying, and firing process.

Modeling craftspeople for cultural heritage: A case study

AbstractIntangible heritage is often linked to human actions and performances. The use of digital humans (DHs) for its digital representation and therefore its preservation, allows reframing the way to transmit and deal with content that is difficult to visualize. To that end, the digital human becomes an important element establishing the connection between the action, the objects, the knowledge, and the environment. In this article, we describe the development of DHs acting as practitioners and storytellers for traditional craft processes within virtual environments. We present the process and the tasks involved in modeling, designing, and animating DHs, detailing the underlying technological background. Animations were completely based on real humans' motion extraction while working on the corresponding craft. As a result, we present the different DHs models created for three specific heritage crafts: mastic cultivation, glass blowing, and silk weaving as well as an AR application, built to augment exhibits of the Chios Mastic Museum. This article is a practical description of the steps to model and animate virtual humans. The work aims to bring a methodology for achieving DHs creation for CH applications.

Transferring Traditional Crafts from the Physical to the Virtual World: An Authoring and Visualization Method and Platform

Visualizing human motion is a topic that has gained increasing attention in the domain of cultural heritage, due to the need for capturing intangible dimensions, existing for example in theatrical performances, dances, and crafts. In this respect, virtual humans are typically employed to re-enact human motion, executing movements reproduced through predefined animations, or physics simulation engines. In the case of traditional crafts, a defining point is how to model the interaction of virtual humans with craft-related objects and how to transfer it from the physical to the digital world. Toward a more effective and generic modeling and visualization of the interaction of humans with tools and machines utilized in crafts, this article proposes a novel methodology for the modeling and visualization of crafts and presents a platform enabling the authoring and visualization of craft processes. We contribute a way of visualizing craft processes within virtual environments, aiming to increase the usability of craft representation. As an example, we present and analyze the case of the craft of weaving with the use of a loom.

Internal Encapsulation for Lead Halide Perovskite Films for Efficient and Very Stable Solar Cells

AbstractExternal encapsulation technique as a straightforward craft process has been adopted to prevent the infiltration of moisture and oxygen, thereby improving environmental stabilities of lead halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, irreversible light‐induced degradation originating from various vacancies and ion diffusion or migration inside the device cannot be efficiently solved by external encapsulation. Herein, an internal encapsulation strategy by introducing NbCl5 at the buried tin oxide/perovskite interface and spin‐casting n‐butylammonium bromide on top of perovskite is developed to comprehensively passivate the vacancies and hence block the channels for ion diffusion or migration. The internal encapsulation strategy results in better homogeneous electron transport layer and effective vacancy passivation at the buried interface and simultaneously generates a more homogeneous, better crystallized perovskite in the vertical direction with significantly reduced residual PbI2. Furthermore, fewer oxygen vacancies and formation of ultrathin Nb2O5 lead to a better interfacial energy level alignment for electron transfer. As a result, power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the resulting PSCs is as high as 24.01%. More importantly, the device demonstrates an excellent stability, retaining 88% of its initial PCE at its maximum power point tracking measurement (under 100 mW cm–2 white light illumination at ≈55 °C temperature, in N2 atmosphere) after 1000 h.