Craft Research - Volume 12, Issue 1, 2021

In recent years we have witnessed an emergence of various do-it-yourself (DIY) activities in urban spaces. This article aims to shed light on these DIY activities in Helsinki, particularly within the textile and garment sector. Six DIY groups were selected, their organizers interviewed, and their respective activities were examined. The aims of this investigation are to understand these activities, the motivations behind them and the implications of making for well-being. The research interest focuses on the collectives and communities Doing It Together (DIT) and Doing It With Others (DIWO) more than individual activities. The main findings indicate that these activities aim to influence well-being at individual, community and societal levels by activating and integrating individuals into the community and society. DIY activities in the current study are based on sustainability-oriented values; they indicate how consumers enter into slower fashion consumption and how designers exercise more meaningful and fluid expertise in design practice. We argue that DIY activities, while niche, are strongly embedded locally, can drive change towards enhanced sustainability and well-being in urban contexts and can even contribute to the aspect of more connected societies.

Rural Crafts are crafts with agrarian roots, but they are not easily located historically, or within today’s developed markets. This study stresses Rural over Heritage Crafts (based in manual skills and traditional materials, designs and techniques), although the two are not mutually exclusive. Rural Crafts are considered, present and past, through interviews with practitioners based in South Wiltshire. The study embraces networks of crafters, interviews with individuals and a focus for a rural craft event located at the Harnham Water Meadows at Salisbury, a historic location. It is established that, while few participants sustained themselves financially through their craft, it was clear that participation is ‘value driven’, providing personal benefits. The ethos of sustainability is a strong theme, both in sourcing materials and in the processes employed, especially true for individuals working with wood and thatching. Few clear similarities are found from past cottage industries, although the sense of continuity in craft is still strong. Networks included craft associations, and opportunities for informal learning, but there is a lack of formal training opportunities. This finding may be historic, as most people interviewed were over 60 years. As well as an age bias, there is a strong gender bias with men dominating regular part-time or full-time paid occupations and women treating their craft more as a hobby. Most people treat sales of any products as a bonus, and the future of such activities is dependent more upon personal interests and networks than on formally trained (often younger) individuals, more so than formal training delivered through individual organizations or companies. Otherwise, our conclusions are in line with modern ideas of personal, well-being and social benefits derived from craft activities.

Sense of space is a core cognitive ability necessary for imagining future three-dimensional forms, rotating them mentally, as well as for abstract thinking. It is a core ability in craft activities, enabling the maker to ideate and envision their ideas. This autoethnographic narrative inquiry presents my experience of woodworking whilst a brain tumour impeded my sense of space. The narrative describes my experience of losing and regaining this ability and the actions I took to continue carving anyway. The article’s evocative narrative exemplifies how the core identity of being a carver and the carving process itself function as coping mechanisms in the face of terminal cancer. The article’s main purpose is to generate knowledge on the role of spatial skills in carving and their elusive nature. Theoretically positioned in the field of embodied cognition, the article explains how our sense of space develops in interaction with materials and our surroundings. It also suggests how future education can be changed by purposefully incorporating targeted craft practices to better support the development of a sense of space.

Review of: The Politics of Vietnamese Craft: American Diplomacy and Domestication, Jennifer Way (2020)

London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 226 pp., ISBN 978-1-350-00704-8, h/bk, £85.00

Blame the Tools: Crafty Robots, Well-behaved Implements and Disobedient Devices

Online symposium, Chelsea College of Art, UAL, London, UK, 8 October 2020