Role Of Craft Research Articles

‘Making it Easy to Do Hard Things’: How experts help novices perceive craft as accessible

Craft offers a path to enchantment and meaningful engagement with creation in an increasingly rationalized society. Yet, entering skilled domains where craft is practiced can be challenging for novices, particularly for those less familiar with these domains. While a growing body of research suggests that craft can be made more accessible through nontraditional pathways, the process whereby novices come to perceive craft as accessible remains undertheorized. We explore these ideas through the case of the makers, a diverse DIY movement that embraces all who build, modify, and invent across a variety of skilled domains. Using interview and observational data from Maker Faires—events wherein makers exhibit their projects and engage attendees in making activities—we induce a model of how experts enable novices to perceive craft as accessible. Our findings reveal how experts convey knowledge and skills using a creative craft approach, detailing how experts engage in scaffolding to facilitate novice creation, relax hierarchy, and cultivate fun and whimsy. In turn, this engenders the experience of enchanted engagement for novices who are able to experience how engaging in craft feels without the requisite skills or knowledge. Ultimately, this experience shapes and reinforces novices’ perception that craft is accessible. Our study contributes to the growing scholarship on craft in terms of alternative pathways for entering skilled domains, the role of craft in re-enchanting organizational life, and the emotional rewards of craft.

The Role of Crafts in the Development of Women’s Entrepreneurship in Rural Areas

The aim of the article is to indicate the need for a diagnosis of socio-cultural conditions of running a craft business by women. Local handicraft, culinary traditions, etc. are also an important resource for the development of women’s entrepreneurship with a craft profile. The problems of the article include the ‘common set’ of two research areas: crafts and women’s entrepreneurship in rural areas. The focus of the paper will be on the issue of the functioning of crafts in rural areas based on an empirical analysis of the scale of functioning of craft enterprises run by women. Concurrently, the subject outlined in this way is related to other issues, such as counteracting depopulation of rural areas based on the activation of local entrepreneurship. The potential of women’s entrepreneurship development in rural areas should also be indicated, among others, by tightening cooperation between Country Housewives’ Associations (koła gospodyń wiejskich, KGWs) and crafts organisations.
 The social effects of cooperation between crafts and KGWs will result in stimulation of entrepreneurship (especially female entrepreneurship) in rural areas, which will then contribute to rural development. These effects support the creation of new forms of small and medium entrepreneurship corresponding to social economy, which are defined as an element of creative economy. This will trigger the process of creating new jobs and may constitute an important mode of support for vocational education, increasing the chance for the local youth to smoothly enter the labour market. Likewise, the generation of local human and social capital resources cannot be overestimated. By mobilising and integrating key actors in the area, it will contribute to better management of local resources.

Craft as resistance: A case study of three Indigenous craft traditions

In this article, I aim to explore the role that craft has played in terms of social resistance for three native peoples: the Iku and Nasa peoples in Colombia and the Sámi people in Sweden. The methodology is based on ethnography. Interviews were performed with Indigenous makers and experts with the objective to understand Indigenous craft and social processes. Inspirations, techniques and materials involved in the Indigenous craft traditions and their relation to social resistance were studied. Social resistance of a political, ecological and cultural nature manifests itself in craft practices, in terms of materiality and implicit meaning. The article includes a brief of the analysed Indigenous communities and the rationale behind the author’s wish to learn from their craft traditions. A theoretical framework based on the concepts of social resistance and craft is also included. The article finalizes with a reflection on the role of craft in terms of social, cultural, political and ecological resistance.

Re-visiting the role of craft in Zhuangzi’s philosophy

ABSTRACT In the ‘Cook Ding cutting up an ox’ parable, Zhuangzi advanced a doctrine on craft and its relationship with Dao. With reference to Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy in conjunction with an analysis of Zhuangzi’s epistemological position, we argue that Zhuangzi understood craft as involving the supersession of the cognitive. In craft, the relationship between human and world is non-cognitive and ‘pre-objective’, the living of this kind of relationship gives rise to a non-cognitive ‘practical sense’ which enables the craftsman’s movements to spontaneously constitute wuwei. Zhuangzi’s ideal is that this kind of relationship is generalized to life as a whole, thereby enabling human actions to spontaneously constitute wuwei generally. This is why he stipulated ‘doing away with knowing’ as a self-cultivation technique required for attaining Dao. Thus, craft constitutes an embodiment of Dao in the double-sense of wuwei and the non-cognitive and ‘pre-objective’ relationship between human and world which enables wuwei.

Useful Work: State Demands and Craftsmen's Social Mobility in Fifteenth-Century China.

This article examines the relationship between practical expertise, political power, and social mobility in fifteenth-century China. Practices and concepts from that period have been reinterpreted in recent debates on Useful and Reliable Knowledge (URK), showing that elite intellectuals and politicians were concerned with the role of crafts and technology, that is, their usefulness for the imperial state. In this article I show how a rhetoric of useful work contributed to the disappearance of practitioners in state politics and their growing invisibility in historical records by the mid-Ming period.

Women’s place-making through craft in post-earthquake Christchurch

INTRODUCTION: There is little research on the role of creative arts and craft in disaster recovery. This article reports findings about the emergent role of crafting from research conducted after the 2010–2011 series of earthquakes in Christchurch and surrounding districts in Aotearoa New Zealand. In particular, the article focuses on the significance and differing interpretations of the notion of place expressed by participants through their craftwork, in this case led by women and mediated by the post-earthquake geographic and temporal context.METHOD: This qualitative research included nine individual interviews and five focus group interviews with crafters from Christchurch and surrounding districts. There were 35 participants in total, 33 were women. Applied thematic analysis was used to code the data and identify themes. These themes included connection to place, the symbolism of craft, the healing experience of craft groups and places for women. The notion of place was evident across all three themes.FINDINGS: The findings from the research demonstrate differing ways in which the significance of place was reflected in the craftwork. Participants interpreted the concept of place in descriptive, symbolic, and therapeutic ways.IMPLICATIONS: More understanding about the way creative endeavours like crafting can be used to help ameliorate the impact of natural disasters is needed. Social work practitioners are encouraged to explore place-based wellbeing during their work with service users and to include aspects of artistry, craft and creativity.

„Ścisk na podatki, a suknia tak długa, że się po ziemi wlecze”, czyli o politycznym aspekcie mody w kazaniach ks. Józef Męcińskiego, wygłoszonych w lubelskim kościele św. Ducha w czasie Sejmu Wielkiego

Ksiądz Józef Męciński (1748–1814) to postać mająca od dawna swe miejsce zarówno w opracowaniach dotyczących dziejów polskiej homiletyki, jak i idei społeczno-gospodarczych czasów stanisławowskich. W latach 1786–1793 Męciński przebywał w Lublinie. Poczynając od 1788 roku. wygłosił w kościele św. Ducha serię kazań kierowanych do szlachty, w których nawiązywał do aktualnych wydarzeń – obrad Sejmu Czteroletniego. Jego opinie o modzie wpisują się w ówczesną dyskusję o modzie, obyczaju i roli rzemiosła. Męciński w swoich kazaniach głosił popularne w czasach oświecenia idee merkantylistyczne, zbytek w ubieraniu się porównywał do trądu, postulował, aby szlachta nosiła ubrania szyte jedynie z materiałów wyprodukowanych w Polsce.Podobne opinie już w latach 70. XVIII wieku przeczytać można było na łamach czasopisma „Monitor”, problemem tym zajmowały się też konstytucje sejmowe. Trudno się jednak dziwić, że Męciński w kazaniach zajął się ubiorem, który podczas Sejmu Wielkiego zyskał szczególny, polityczny wymiar. W kilku zdaniach omawianego lubelskiego kazania Józefa Męcińskiego mieści się właściwie esencja dyskusji z czasów stanisławowskich dotyczącej strojów i zbytku (brak jedynie wątku stroju narodowego), część jego poglądów zdaje się jednak oryginalna.

Design and the Evolving Tradition of Sanganer Hand Block Printing: Formation and Negotiation of Artisanal Knowledge and Identities Against the Backdrop of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Tradition has been described by heritage studies as a transformative process that is being enforced, reinvented, transformed, denied, or contested, with heritage seen as a construct of the past, present, and imagined futures. The role of craft and design interactions in safeguarding and rejuvenating cultural practices has yet to receive adequate attention against this theoretical backdrop. In order to discuss how design affects craft practices, we studied Sanganer hand block printing’s development amidst increasing design influences in postindependence India. We especially consider the way in which artisanal identities and practice, or intangible cultural heritage, are formed and negotiated when engaged with specific design scenarios and actors; and by studying the varied attitudes and realities of contemporary Sanganer hand block printing from this interdisciplinary point of view, the paper offers new insights into a range of “modern,” “traditional,” and “heritage” craft realities.

“Fiddling with Threads”: Craft-based Textile Activities and Positive Well-being

Craft-based textile activities such as knitting, crochet, tatting, and lace making have provided challenges, physical and mental stimulation, creative outlets, and social interaction for generations. The role of craft and the relationship between craft and maker vary across cultures, geographic groups, and gender. However, a common thread is that craft practitioners are often emotionally invested in these activities and many continue to make through all stages of life and into old age. Given the ageing of the global population, activities that can be carried out by people with reduced mobility and increasing physical or mental limitations as a result of ageing, and which can promote healthy ageing and positive well-being, are now becoming increasingly important. Existing research has established a link between creativity and health and well-being. But, it is only recently that multidisciplinary research involving arts and crafts, social science, and medical and health scholars and practitioners has begun to show the importance of activities, such as craft textiles, for positive well-being. The relationship between craft activities, creative engagement, mental and physical stimulation, social interaction, self-esteem, and, therefore, positive well-being has been insufficiently explored. This article reports findings of a study of lace makers at the Lace Study Centre at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia, that examined how craft activities contribute to well-being in a variety of ways. This research, which focused on female practitioners, found that craft-based textile activities and associated social practices provide insights into the individual and societal importance of “everyday creativity” for promoting positive well-being and general good health.

Demo hour

During DIS 2014 Experience Night, conference attendees experienced a thought-provoking set of interactive systems, artworks, and techno-crafts. We selected interactive works that explore the reemergence of craft in the design of interactive systems, the role of craft in democratizing design, and the role of makers in interactive technology design. Alissa Antle and Steven Dow, DIS 2014 Demo Chairs

Theorising a transformative agenda for craft

This paper examines the potential of craft to facilitate cultures of quality and social transformation in the interests of sustainability. This approach is theoretically grounded in the work of Tony Fry. It draws particularly on his concepts of sustain-ability and Sustainment to construct an argument for what is both valuable about craft as a practice of material fabrication, and what broader social goals craft practitioners might set themselves in recognition of this value. The transformative potential of craft is explored through David Harvey's dialectical theory of social transformation. This exploration of the potential of craft is also coupled with a recognition of current constraints within contemporary craft practices. In particular, the role of craft within practices of symbolic production and exchange is critiqued through the work of Jean Baudrillard and Pierre Bourdieu. Through these thinkers we observe how crafted artifacts are denied their sustaining potential, and how craft practitioners themselves may become absorbed in facilitating the negation of craft as Sustainment. By way of conclusion it is proposed that in order to realise both the sustaining and transformative potential of craft, practitioners must develop a capacity for ongoing critical reflection that informs vocational commitment to change through craft practice. In this capacity, it is a call for practitioners to both recognise and engage with the political agency of craft as a way of fabricating new, and more sustainable modes of (human)being.

Speculative Artisanry: The Expanding Scale of Craft within Architecture

In modern architectural history, architects have tended to think of craft as an act of execution—a finalizing of a given proposal. Architectural design and construction is typically understood as a chronological sequence with design as start and build as finale. Under this paradigm, design is the immaterial presaging and build is the material act of actualizing the design. Craft, however, could indicate a more open-ended negotiation with material and process. With this sensibility, material becomes a generator of form rather than a simple means to manifest or render predetermined ideas of form. Here craft becomes synonymous with discovery as much as mastery. Recently new technologies in fabrication have brought the process of making closer to that of designing, reconnecting the discipline with materiality and material process. Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) techniques have empowered even the smallest office to reconcile the digital with the physical. These techniques have made craft issues relevant in the design process, moving the role of craft into the realm of the operation rather than only execution, and empowering the architect to “cut across” the multiple scales between matter and logistics.

Makers: a history of American studio craft

Here is the first comprehensive survey of modern craft in the United States. Makers follows the development of studio craft--objects in fiber, clay, glass, wood, and metal--from its roots in nineteenth-century reform movements to the rich diversity of expression at the end of the twentieth century. More than four hundred illustrations complement this chronological exploration of the American craft tradition. Keeping as their main focus the objects and the makers, Janet Koplos and Bruce Metcalf offer a detailed analysis of seminal works and discussions of education, institutional support, and the philosophical underpinnings of craft. In a vivid and accessible narrative, they highlight the value of physical skill, examine craft as a force for moral reform, and consider the role of craft as an aesthetic alternative. Exploring craft's relationship to fine arts and design, Koplos and Metcalf foster a critical understanding of the field and help explain craft's place in contemporary culture. Makers will be an indispensable volume for craftspeople, curators, collectors, critics, historians, students, and anyone who is interested in American craft. |Here is the first comprehensive survey of modern craft in the United States. The book follows the development of studio craft--objects in fiber, clay, glass, wood, and metal--from its roots in 19th-century reform movements to the rich diversity of expression at the end of the 20th century. Keeping as their main focus the objects and the makers, Koplos and Metcalf offer a detailed analysis of seminal works and discussions of education, institutional support, and the philosophical underpinnings of craft. Oversize, with more than 400 illustrations.

Freedom and convention: Old arts for a new century

This essay, in three parts, explores the survival of modernist aesthetics, specifically the glorification of originality, spontaneity, and rebelliousness. The modernist ideal makes sense historically, as a response to the deperson alizing force of modernization. However, it is not the only possible response, or the best in all circumstances. Its adverse effects include restrictions on the the artistic and social role of craft, neglect of convention-based arts such as ornament, public disaffection with contemporary art, and an educational sys tem that denies our children the benefits of systematic art instruction. In each case, our present needs are best served by recognizing that convention is no bar to creativity, and by a return to the older ideal of gradual innovation within a shared language of form and content.

A Comparison of Craft Use and Academic Preparation in Craft Modalities

The purpose of this study was to compare the use of crafts in psychiatric occupational therapy practice with the actual craft-related training received by occupational therapy students. Two questionnaires were developed, one related to the crafts used in clinical practice, the other related to the amount and type of craft training received in educational programs. One thousand occupational therapists who work in psychiatry and 139 accredited and developing educational programs were asked to complete the questionnaire appropriate to their setting. The final analysis involved 121 educational programs (87% response rate) and 384 clinical programs (38% response rate). The results suggest that there may be substantial differences between craft-related training and actual clinical use of crafts. The findings imply that educational programs must reevaluate the types of crafts taught and the method by which they are integrated into the total curriculum. Implications for the profession include the need to clarify the role of crafts as a therapeutic modality and to reflect on the future direction of the profession.