A Craft State of Mind

Abstract

Within contemporary craft, designer/ maker practice generates much debate in terms of its viability within 21st Century technological culture. Much of this debate focuses on issues concerning economics, as makers conceive new design ideas and produce the physical/material results in the form of innovative design objects to meet a ‘standard’ of excellence. However there remains a philosophical and practical gap in our knowledge with regards to the relationship between the individual acts of managing creativity and creatively managing craft. In craft writings on research (be it academic or public sector), these two perspectives are most often separated into an economic analysis of the craft sector and the activities of craft practitioners in terms of their contribution to culture. This separation arguably presents an unbalanced and misleading view of the business of being a craft practitioner. This paper addresses this and looks at craft practice from the practitioner perspective focusing on why we practice.

Building on PhD research ‘Making Changes: Applying heuristics to a practice led investigation of creative wellbeing in the context of contemporary craft’, this paper will explore the role of values within the creative process and discuss their importance to maintaining creative wellbeing and the impact of this to both economic and cultural sectors.

The paper highlights how I used a research process to reflect on fundamental challenges that I encountered during ten years of business as a designer/maker. In particular the difficulty of meeting the sectors economic and my own creative expectations. Through the research process I highlight creative wellbeing as an essential part of practice in that it is a necessary ‘state of mind’ that is underpinned by values. I argue that creative wellbeing drives innovation and design development in the production of objects, and that it facilitates personal growth and creative development. The question I ask in this paper is:
What is creative wellbeing in a craft context and what is its significance to practice and the craft sector?