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Volume 15, Issue 2, 2024
- Editorial
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Entanglements of craft: Between nature, culture and economy
Authors: Katherine Townsend, Gemma Potter and Beth PagettThis issue features a range of contributions which reflect on how engagement in craft practices that are entangled with nature, economy and place allow both individuals and communities to be sustained culturally, socially and economically. Anthony Rausch examines how craft can represent both ‘cultural commodity’ and ‘cultural economy’ through his study of Japanese Tsugaru Nuri lacquerware. In their exploration of Khatwa appliqué among craftswomen in India, Sweta Rajan Sharma, Toni Sharma and Meenakshi Gupta uncover how craft can facilitate socio-economic empowerment and provide opportunity to break away from regional patriarchal norms. The Craft and Industry report by Rena Mehta, Pallavi Singh, Toolika Gupta and Madan Meena presents an ethnographic study and design intervention to sustain Kalbelia quilt-making in Rajasthan, India. Leonardo Hidalgo Uribe explores bio-colourant foraging in southern Finland, framing dyeing as a place-making practice that is dependent on closely attuned human–environment relations. This issue’s cover features a collage image created by Hidalgo Uribe during his fieldwork in Finnish forests. Related to this theme, Urs Dierker reviews the BioColours 2024 conference held at the University of Helsinki, Finland, in June 2024, which presented multidisciplinary perspectives of future visions for bio-colourants. Human and nature entanglements are further explored in Aysenur Ceren Asmaz and Nizam Orçun Önal’s portrait of Taiwanese Australian contemporary ceramic artist Ruth Ju-Shih Li, whose raw clay work is featured as this issue’s Remarkable Image. Māra Urdziņa-Deruma evaluates the development of an approach for structuring learning assignments of textile crafts for students of design and technology at the University of Latvia. Nithikul Nimkulrat reviews the book Prairie Interlace: Weaving, Modernisms, and the Expanded Frame, 1960–2000, edited by Michele Hardy, Timothy Long and Julia Krueger. Whilst Kärt Summatavet reviews the book Silver Treasures from the Land of Sheba: Regional Yemeni Jewelry by Marjorie Ransom, Bethany Turner-Pemberton reviews the exhibition Collecting Innovation: Innovative Collecting.
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- Articles
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Narratives of empowerment: Through the lens of Khatwa craftswomen of Bihar
Authors: Sweta Rajan Sharma, Toni Sharma and Meenakshi GuptaWomen’s empowerment is a complex concept entailing many internal and external factors. This research article explores the role of Khatwa appliqué, a traditional textile craft predominantly practised by women, in driving social and economic empowerment among craftswomen in Bihar, India. The methodology involves interviewing the accomplished craftswomen and developing individual case studies. The research examines the narratives of these master artisans, with a keen focus on comprehending how engagement in Khatwa appliqué has been instrumental in their empowerment journey. It also delves into the sources of inspiration, techniques and materials employed in this historically utilitarian craft – Khatwa appliqué. Our findings indicate that the Khatwa craft may have played a substantial role in advancing the socio-economic empowerment of craftswomen. The craft seems to have contributed significantly to improving their financial independence, increasing their mobility, heightening their levels of awareness and cultivating their self-confidence. Together, these outcomes have resulted in an overall enhancement of their socio-economic status, resulting in a heightened level of empowerment. The research findings contribute to the limited but growing literature on the role of crafts on several facets of women’s empowerment in Bihar.
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Dyeing as a place-making practice: Examining human–environment relations through foraging practices in southern Finland
More LessThe seriousness of the environmental impact of textile dyeing practices has pushed the need to explore different ways of working with colour. A relevant part of research on biocolourants has focused on meeting current colour standards through explorations in lab or studio settings without considering the complex ecological relations in the places where biocolourants grow. Working with foraged dyestuffs in turn offers the opportunity to understand dyeing from a place-based perspective, where colours emerge from the entanglements between the dyers and the environment. The article examines foraging and dyeing practices using practice-led research and autoethnographic methods and studies the author’s relations with the forest areas in Vanhankaupunginlahti and Kalkkiranta in southern Finland. By creating a colour library using foraged biocolourants that grow in a particular ecosystem, dyers can learn about the environments they inhabit through movement and sensory engagement, and this knowledge can inform their understanding of dyeing and colour in textiles. The article argues that dyers can engage with the landscape by learning to notice and correspond with the ongoing change of dyestuffs through walking and observation. When foraging, the agency and intentions of the dyer become compromised by the limits of the environment. This questions the place of colour in design practice, where palettes are usually decided without considering the ecologies of dyestuffs. Working with foraged biocolourants for dyeing textiles can trigger the imagination and find ways to coordinate colour-making processes with the rhythms of the environment.
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Representing craft as cultural commodity in its cultural economy
More LessDefining craft has proven troublesome in craft-related research, with existing definitions either failing to reflect the expanse and variety of crafts or creating artificial boundaries, which constrain the fullest extent of how crafts can be recognized, viewed, interpreted, preserved and promoted. This research presents an examination of a place-based lacquerware craft of rural Japan, which offers an alternative approach to representing craft based on the idea of conceptual and operational space for both craft categories and craft items. Such a combined way of viewing craft – conceptually and operationally – offers the fullest interpretation of what craft is both in its original and ideal sense and in terms of its contemporary, social and economic realities. Further, the article proposes that by extending such conceptual and operational views of a particular craft category or item by linking them with the circumstance of their respective host locale, the resulting representation yields the craft as a cultural commodity, through which it ultimately constitutes its own independent cultural economy. The conclusion of the research proposes how such an approach extends the practice of static definitions by connecting craft through its conceptual and operational realities to the contemporary reality of both cultural and economic commodities.
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Constraints of assignments for learning the textile craft through the design process
More LessAs a result of the general education reform in Latvia in 2020, the new subject of design and technology replaced home economics and technology. This reform changed the content and organization of training, including the structure of assignments; this article outlines a study which develops an approach for structuring learning assignments and creating constraints for the design process and product creation for future design and technology teachers. It also looks at the development of products that require crafting skills in textile techniques. In the remote study process, four open-ended multi-step assignments were validated using the MS Teams platform and the e-study environment. It proved appropriate to develop open-ended assignments that include constraints covering all stages of the design process, including constraints relating to the use of sources of inspiration, materials, techniques, colour and other means of artistic expression as well as volume, timing and location constraints, in order for students to acquire experience in the design process and in creating products. It is important to use a structured design diary form according to the steps of the design process and the specific assignment. If the source of inspiration is an object using the same technique as the product, a condition should be included to make a certain number of changes in order to avoid reproductive work. The findings also show no correlation between investment in making sketches, models and mood boards and created products (n = 16).
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- Craft and Industry
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Researching and reinventing the Kalbelia quilts of Rajasthan
Authors: Rena Mehta, Pallavi Singh, Toolika Gupta and Madan MeenaThe tribes in states across India have a rich cultural history of practising dance, music and crafts to earn their living. Rajasthan is famous for its handcrafted products and accessories that represent an economic attribute and are valued for their sociocultural histories, including their future conservation. This ethnographic study on Kalbelia Gudadis of Rajasthan highlights the little-known craft and provides design solutions to the artisans for sustaining the specialist quilt-making process. The women of communities based in Rajasthan have traditionally practised the art of layered quilting using vibrant-coloured textiles stitched with magnificent embroidery. While some communities still practise the craft, it is becoming more difficult to sustain economically. The research is aimed, first, at documenting the art of quilt-making by the Kalbelia community and, second, identifying the problems the craftswomen face in maintaining the craft’s survival. The third phase of the study represents a design intervention with the community as a possible solution to revive the craft. Cluster is a small village which has yet to be discovered for its neglected craft skills. The study proposes a solution for maintaining the community’s textile skills and for standing nationally and internationally in the market. The investigation focuses on providing a sustainable solution to the manufacturing of the Gudadis/quilts by introducing natural dyes and organic textiles and implying product diversification techniques to extend markets for current and future makers.
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- Portrait
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Exploring Ruth Ju-Shih Li’s Metaphorical Flowers: A journey into the ephemeral
Authors: Aysenur Ceren Asmaz and Nizam Orçun ÖnalArt serves as a profound medium for individuals to express their innermost thoughts, experiences and emotions, holding considerable significance for both artists and audiences. It eases the meaningful exploration and communication of personal narratives and sentiments, highlighting the profound expressive capabilities within the realm of art. Taiwanese–Australian artist Ruth Ju-Shih Li presents a profound narrative through her contemporary ceramic art, particularly the captivating Metaphorical Flowers series since 2019. These works, resembling metaphorical self-portraits, encapsulate Li’s spirituality using raw clay. Their ‘ephemeral’ nature, akin to abstract images of astral journeys, reflects the transient nature of human existence from a universal perspective. In contrast to conventional ceramics, Li’s creations strike a delicate balance between intricate detail and inherent transience, crafted from raw, unfired clay. This unique approach challenges traditional notions of permanence in art, with sculptures often beginning to disintegrate during creation and exhibition, offering viewers a transformative experience as they witness the gradual collapse of her installations. Li’s creative process extends beyond individual experiences to encompass the stories of others, allowing common emotions to be filtered through these narratives and transformed into varied forms that resonate with the audience. The narrative style she constructs creates a feeling of depth in the audience, with a form of expression that symbolizes the human life cycle. This evocative portrayal invites viewers to contemplate the transient nature of existence and the cyclical journey of life, adding a profound layer of meaning to her artworks.
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- Exhibition Review
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Collecting Innovation: Innovative Collecting, curated by Bethany Turner-Pemberton, Special Collections Museum, Manchester Metropolitan University, 14 November 2023–29 February 2024
More LessCollecting Innovation: Innovative Collecting was a temporary exhibition at the Special Collections Museum, Manchester Metropolitan University, from 14 November 2023 to 29 February 2024. The exhibition featured objects from the museum’s pioneering Material and Process Innovation Collection, a collection of contemporary craft and design objects used in teaching, research and exhibitions across the university and beyond. The exhibition investigated what innovation means in the context of this collection and for wider museum practices.
Exhibited in Special Collection’s student-led space, the exhibition was an extension of a contemporary collecting workshop with staff and researchers from across the design, art and performance departments at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). The museum’s student-led space connects their collections to courses across MMU and provides a dedicated space in which undergraduate and postgraduate students can develop practice-based outcomes in course units or as part of placements during their time at the university.
The Collecting Innovation: Innovative Collecting exhibition was informed by my Ph.D. research in collaboration with the Science and Industry Museum (SIM), Manchester, and MMU’s Special Collections Museum (SCM) and was curated as part of my placement at SCM. My research seeks to identify a narrative of Greater Manchester’s contemporary textile industry and employs curatorial methods of interpreting these textile stories at SIM. One approach to this storytelling is using contemporary collecting to reflect the region’s contemporary textile manufacturing processes more accurately and to ensure the museum’s textile collection is sustainable for future permanent galleries at SIM. During my research, I have established a contemporary collecting framework which uses the participating organization’s existing policy documents within staff-focused workshops to craft or restructure contemporary collecting policies. This collecting framework considers the inherent risks of collecting new objects with untested legacies, questions the importance of place, and focuses on storytelling. SIM, as part of the Science Museum Group, takes a risk-averse approach to contemporary collecting. As such, the contemporary collecting policy I developed with their curatorial team reflects their desire to collect objects that represent inspiring local stories that further the museum’s existing narrative threads or for use in upcoming temporary exhibitions. In contrast, SCM has an existing contemporary craft and design collection and was keen to use my collecting framework to restructure and adjust their policy ten years after it was written. SCM provided a unique opportunity to test my collecting framework in partnership with an institution whose policies already include a pioneering approach to contemporary collecting. Through the exhibition and staff-focused workshop, my research with SCM sought to investigate the innovation at play within the collection objects themselves and also within the collecting policy and SCM’s approach to contemporary collecting.
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- Book Reviews
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Silver Treasures from the Land of Sheba: Regional Yemeni Jewelry, Marjorie Ransom (2023)
More LessReview of: Silver Treasures from the Land of Sheba: Regional Yemeni Jewelry, Marjorie Ransom (2023)
Cairo, NY: The American University in Cairo Press, 264 pp.,
ISBN 978-1-64903-333-8, p/bk, £40.00, $44.95
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Prairie Interlace: Weaving, Modernisms, and the Expanded Frame, 1960–2000, Michele Hardy, Timothy Long and Julia Krueger (eds) (2023)
More LessReview of: Prairie Interlace: Weaving, Modernisms, and the Expanded Frame, 1960–2000, Michele Hardy, Timothy Long and Julia Krueger (eds) (2023)
Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 248 pp.,
ISBN 978-1-77385-486-1, h/bk, $99.99
ISBN 978-1-77385-487-8, p/bk, $59.99
ISBN 978-1-77385-489-2, e-book (institutional PDF)
ISBN 978-1-77385-490-8, e-book (ePub)
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- Conference Review
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BioColours 2024 Conference, University of Helsinki, Finland, 4–7 June 2024
More LessReview of: BioColours 2024 Conference, University of Helsinki, Finland, 4–7 June 2024
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- Calendar of Events
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- Remarkable Image
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