Craft Shaping Society


Book Description

This book focusses on the role of craft as a continuing cultural practice and the revival of disappearing skills in contemporary society. It includes twenty-five essays by highly regarded artisans, academics, technologists, entrepreneurs, businesspeople, curators, and researchers from many countries representing a wide range of global craft traditions and innovations. The authors explain their professional practices and creative pathways with knowledge, experience, and passion. They offer insightful analyses of their traditions within their culture and in the marketplace, alongside the evolution of technology as it adapts to support experimentation and business strategies. They write about teaching and research informing their practice; and they explain the importance of their tools and materials in function and form of the objects they make. The essays reveal a poignant expression of their successes, disappointments, and opportunities. This book offers case studies of how artisans have harnessed the traditions of the past alongside the latest design technologies. The authors reveal how global craft is not only a vehicle for self-expression and creativity, but also for being deeply relevant to the world of work, community and environmental sustainability. The book makes the vital link between skills, knowledge, education, and employment, and fills a much-needed niche in Technical, Vocational Education and Training TVET.




Craft, Community and the Material Culture of Place and Politics, 19th-20th Century


Book Description

With object study at the core, this book brings together a collection of essays that address the past and present of craft production, its use and meaning within a range of community settings from the Huron Wendat of colonial Quebec to the Girls’ Friendly Society of twentieth-century England. The making of handcrafted objects has and continues to flourish despite the powerful juggernaut of global industrialization. By attending to the political histories of craft objects and their makers, over the last few centuries, these essays reveal the creative persistence of various hand mediums and the material debates they represented.




The New Craft School


Book Description

The New Craft School investigates the architecture of the vocational school and its role in society. It does so by situating the school within larger cultures of craft and specific networks of people, places and knowledge, in which education forms a crucial link. Based on the notion of architecture as an environment in which social relations are negotiated, it emphasizes the importance of the building to create, foster and transmit these cultures. Departing from the situation of the vocational school in the Netherlands, the book provides a reading of historical and contemporary contexts, examines the notion of cultures of craft, and the various ways in which the school can embody its position within society. Five scenarios present an architectural repertoire to reinforce connections between the vocational school and the neighbourhood, the city and society at large with cultures of making and with the identity of the school. Best practices from the Netherlands and northern Europe, complemented by a number of study projects, illustrate what these scenarios might look like. The result is a cross-cultural and cross-historical archive of projects and ideas that serve as models to inspire and to build upon, to create a new chapter in the history of the craft school. Contributors include, Susanne Pietsch, Eireen Schreurs, Sereh Mandias and Dolf Broekhuizen.







Craft Shaping Society


Book Description

This book focusses on the role of craft as a continuing cultural practice and the revival of disappearing skills in contemporary society. It includes twenty-five essays by highly regarded artisans, academics, technologists, entrepreneurs, businesspeople, curators, and researchers from many countries representing a wide range of global craft traditions and innovations. The authors explain their professional practices and creative pathways with knowledge, experience, and passion. They offer insightful analyses of their traditions within their culture and in the marketplace, alongside the evolution of technology as it adapts to support experimentation and business strategies. They write about teaching and research informing their practice; and they explain the importance of their tools and materials in function and form of the objects they make. The essays reveal a poignant expression of their successes, disappointments, and opportunities. This book offers case studies of how artisans have harnessed the traditions of the past alongside the latest design technologies. The authors reveal how global craft is not only a vehicle for self-expression and creativity, but also for being deeply relevant to the world of work, community and environmental sustainability. The book makes the vital link between skills, knowledge, education, and employment, and fills a much-needed niche in Technical, Vocational Education and Training TVET.




Why We Make Things and Why it Matters


Book Description

Why do we make things? Why do we choose the emotionally and physically demanding work of bringing new objects into the world with creativity and skill? Why does it matter that we make things well? What is the nature of work? And what is the nature of a good life? This January, whether you're honing your craft or turning your hand to a new skill, discover the true value in what it means to be a craftsman in a mass-produced world. Part memoir, part polemic, part philosophical reflection, this is a book about the process of creation. For woodworker Peter Korn, the challenging work of bringing something new and meaningful into the world through one's own efforts is exactly what generates authenticity, meaning, and fulfilment, for which many of us yearn. This is not a 'how-to' book in any sense, Korn wants to get at the 'why' of craft in particular, and the satisfaction of creative work in general, to understand its essential nature. How does the making of objects shape our identities? How do the products of creative work inform society? In short, what does the process of making things reveal to us about ourselves? Korn draws on four decades of hands-on experience to answer these questions eloquently in this heartfelt, personal and revealing book. 'If you are in the building trade or just love creating things as a hobby, you will find this book fascinating' The Sun




Digital Cultural Heritage


Book Description

This book explores how digital technologies are transforming cultural heritage preservation, documentation, and archiving. It delves into the technical aspects of digitalization techniques, digital preservation strategies, and the use of advanced technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality in the context of cultural heritage. Digital Cultural Heritage: Challenges, Solutions and Future Directions covers the digital documentation and archiving of cultural artifacts, which involves the use of imaging techniques, data storage, and metadata management. This aspect would resonate with engineers specializing in imaging technology, data management, and information systems. The chapters showcase the breadth of innovative ideas in delivering, communicating, interpreting, and transforming cultural heritage content and experience through multi-modal, multimedia interfaces. Aiming to offer a balanced overview of digital heritage and culture issues and technologies, the book pulls together expert views and updates on these four broad areas, namely, (a) Smart Cities and Digital Heritage, (b) Heritage and Education, (c) Culture and Society, and (d) Digital Documentation and Preservation. The book will resonate with engineers specializing in imaging technology, data management, and information systems and those exploring the intersection of digital technology and museums, such as interactive exhibits, digital displays, and virtual museum experiences. It will also be of interest to researchers, curators, and educators as well as the culture-minded public seeking to understand how the burgeoning field of digital heritage and culture may impact our social, cultural, and recreational activities.




The Craftsman


Book Description

Why do people work hard, and take pride in what they do? This book, a philosophically-minded enquiry into practical activity of many different kinds past and present, is about what happens when people try to do a good job. It asks us to think about the true meaning of skill in the 'skills society' and argues that pure competition is a poor way to achieve quality work. Sennett suggests, instead, that there is a craftsman in every human being, which can sometimes be enormously motivating and inspiring - and can also in other circumstances make individuals obsessive and frustrated. The Craftsman shows how history has drawn fault-lines between craftsman and artist, maker and user, technique and expression, practice and theory, and that individuals' pride in their work, as well as modern society in general, suffers from these historical divisions. But the past lives of crafts and craftsmen show us ways of working (using tools, acquiring skills, thinking about materials) which provide rewarding alternative ways for people to utilise their talents. We need to recognise this if motivations are to be understood and lives made as fulfilling as possible.




The Culture of Craft


Book Description

Dormer presents a series of lively, clearly argued discussions about the relevance of handicraft in a world whose aesthetics and design are largely determined by technology. The question of computer aided design in craft is also addressed.




Entrepreneurship in Creative Crafts


Book Description

Popular eCommerce platforms like Etsy have attributed to a sharp increase in creative craft entrepreneurs, and craft entrepreneurship has strong links to the cultural and lifestyle field. This timely book looks at craft entrepreneurship and defines what qualifies as craft entrepreneurs and their products in a global context. The edited book begins with an overview of the craft sector and each chapter provides a holistic picture of what craft entrepreneurship entails. Different kinds of creative crafts are examined, providing a discussion of what entrepreneurship in creative crafts involves, how they differ from other types of products, and how craft makers may engage in entrepreneurial behaviour and marketing. The book helps readers understand the current state of development of the craft sector, its various challenges, and what the future holds for these businesses. Craft entrepreneurship is a new, emerging area of entrepreneurship study, and this book will interest scholars and those who are interested in craft making and wish to develop it into a small business.