The ‘new’ craft phenomena and the contemporary museum

By attending to the rise of craft, museums can play an important role in asking questions about the material culture, context and the cultural life extending from craft. This article explores the relationships between the museum and current wave of craft. I argue that, as custodians and translators of material culture, museums are positioned powerfully to attend to matters of craft in ways that allow for the interpretation of a changing cultural phenomenon. I do so by exploring the extent to which the ‘third wave’ of craft has infiltrated public, cultural and scholarly life. This is considered in the context of the contemporary museum with regard to implications for museum positioning and practice.