Craft as creative making

Anina says I should stop using the word craft as it sounds so totally uncool. She works in the fashion business so she knows what she is talking about.

At the Reboot conference I tried to enrich the meaning of craft by showing that we can link craft to a variety of interesting phenomena including personalized technology, limited edition fashion, alternative production, culture history, construction, play, and programming. For most of these activities I would probably not use the Finnish equivalent for craft (käsityö), which literally means hand (käsi) work (työ). But somehow, through these examples, the English word 'craft' has begun to translate in my head as 'creative making'. At least that is what I mean by the term.

Comments

[henriette weber Andersen]

well why should you make up a word for something that is allready defined?

I see craft as quality and unique... - and inspiring..

if you start use some other word... then people might be confused what you are all about..

and crafting is retro and very hip - maybe not in the fashion industry - but the last time I checked - they weren't exactly "cool" with technology...

soo nice to see you again - next time we next time we need to have more talking together *s*

[anina.net]

i was suggesting that she use the word

"limited edition items"

because craft implies such a non-fashion connotation (and ulla makes crafting cool) but there are lots of designers out there who make limited edition, one of a kind, items--be they fashion or art or design.

so in the fashion industry that's the term. it took us a while to come to the bottom of it over tea. but we did!

i think the word craft (at least with the connotations in english) makes me think of old ladies sitting around quilting and selling in gyms. where as the word "limited edition" makes me think of cool design, or peruvians hand-crafting items.

i mean, even the word, HAND-CRAFT is better than craft.

or maybe i am so american and it reminds me of KRAFT cheeze...

i just wanted to bring some EDEL-ness to the people who are making limited edition items, or who are hand-crafting items.

[anina.net]

even hand-made sounds better than craft...no one agrees with me?

[vac]

Hi Anina,

i have to disagree with you.
in German "craft" sounds a lot more novel and interesting than "limited edition".

craft
= sounds like "Kraft" (as in Kraft-werk)
= Force

in contrast "limited edition" is what adi..s, ni.e, pu.a do all the time, imported from Vietnam: hand-made in a slightly different sense, I guess.

to me "craft" is closer to buzzwords like "street couture", "underground" even "punk"
- and that's great!

and what's wrong with old ladies (our grand-mas i would think) doing knitting?

it is all about
think different.. - act different.. - be different.. than the "industry". by the way a lot of people in industry are toying around with the concept of "being differenT" - it is just so hard make it happen.

Keep it up!

[Ulla-Maaria]

Interesting discussion! I also like Anina's limited edition and agree that it may be the best word to communicate the idea of unique or small series production in the fashion industry. Still, I'm also fascinated to explore the verb "crafting" and it's use in new contexts. For example, Andrew Otwell just reminded me about Malcom McCullough's book "Abstracting Craft. The Practiced Digital Hand", where he suggests a growing correspondence between digital work and traditional craft. Here is a MIT Press abstract of it.

[Jens]

Uncool or not, I meet a few people @ Reboot that had an understanding of the topic as, well, craft in the I-make-pottery sense of the word. It was only after they became aware of the thinglink stuff they got interested.

I myself also have a problem with the word 'craft'. When you break things down and explain it there's no problem. The problem is the initial response. I think you'll get quite a few misunderstandings like the ones you are refering to in this post.

Anyway, just a thought...

And while I'm at it. Great presentation @ Reboot. There's a huge potential in this stuff. I wish you the best :-)

[liz]

The Oxford English Dictionary defines craft as "an activity involving skill in making things by hand". Websters describes craft as "skill in planning, making, or executing". Roget's Thesaurus takes craft as a synonym for "skill".

So perhaps what defines "craft" is an essential level of skill, and creative endeavor without skill inevitably leads to less than perfect results. Whatever your passion - textiles or ceramics, cookery or code - without some basic skill, acquired with time and effort, your project is doomed.

Competency in many crafts usually arrives after years of practice in well-established techniques - the "tricks of the trade", so to speak. It takes time to learn a craft. While the technology of mass-production makes it possible to reject craft as a concept, doing so devalues those skills necessary to achieve our creative goals. I may be mistaken, but this seems to be the whole point of Ulla's manifesto.

I say accept the word and embrace the concept, because designers the world over are clamoring for craft's safe return. And as an amateur tailor, I worry about a fashion professional who would reject craft, because the whole fashion industry depends on its propagation. What are they teaching at fashion school these days? Or is this a professional of the catwalk variety?

[Anne]

Hello Ulla!

Personally, I love the word craft, and wouldn't worry too much about the coolness factor ;)

I tend to agree with anina that hand-crafting is even better, but "limited edition" sounds a bit like glossy marketing-speak to me (and having worked for years in Peru as an anthropologist, I'm not sure the local artesans would find it useful or appealing beyond its ability to sell more product to North Americans and Europeans).

Craft is underground-sexy these days, so the challenge isn't making it cool, but rather making it cool to tech-types. Andrew was good to point to McCullough's 'Abstracting Craft,' as many web designers will be familiar with it and it will provide a bridge for conversation.

But, for me anyway, the great strengths of your Craft Manifesto and ThingLinks is the focus on hand-work as well as mind-work, on the physical as well as the digital. We don't have to choose anymore - including between cool and uncool - so revel in what you know and believe, and your enthusiasm will eventually win over the right people.

[jill danyelle]

keep craft.

first of all, no one will no what you are talking about otherwise.

ltd. editions is just that and has nothing to do with how it was made. this is a ltd. edition, but certainly not crafty.

in fact, in "the fashion industry", or design in general, I always understood a "one of a kind" item was referred to as a "one-off".

"One-off" as an adjective means 'done, occurring, or made only once', and as a noun 'something that occurs, is done, or is made only once'.

I suppose several similar but unique items could make a series. as here.

art, design and craft are all a bit intermingled anyway aren't they.

how would you define andrea zittel who's retrospective just was held at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in NYC?
the quilters of Gee's Bend who had a very successful viewing at The Whitney and continue to tour museums?
or how about Project Alabama that sells at Barney's and was an Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation winner?
or the "ceramics" of Eva Zeisel?

I am American and the word doesn't have an uncool connotation to me. Perhaps it is because I am constantly surveying the cultural landscape, so I see that there is a huge resurgence in craft. I am so impressed with the new craft movement and wonder why it has surged in popularity. Is it a reaction against the invasion of technology in our lives? In some ways it is people revolting against what "the fashion industry" says they should do, such as in Wardrobe Refashion and Swap-o-rama-rama or Bless and the supercool Andrea Crews, both right there in Anina's Paris. When you have Built by Wendy and the fashion editor of NYLON putting out a sewing book, you know it's not your grandma's craft anymore.

I will acquiesce that there may be some "uncool" craft creations, but let's face it, there is also a lot of bad fashion out there. I much prefer the name apparel arts to fashion, but I am not about to try to change it.

Maybe instead of changing the name we need to changes peoples perceptions.

And I studied at Parson's and FIT, so I should know.

[jill danyelle]

addendum:
i see some visitors to fiftyRx3 from my above comment and just want to be clear that you do not misconstrue...

"And I studied at Parson's and FIT, so I should know"

...as a serious comment.

It was meant as a play against the original comment that Anina is in the fashion industry so she should know what is cool or not.

Not a cut against Anina or Ulla, but just a wish that people will develop a stronger sense of themselves and their style instead of so easily following what fashion dictates.

To be clear, I in no way consider myself an authority.