The Value of Design in Craft for a More Sustainable Future

Abstract

Key concepts of sustainability in the contemporary consumer society include cradle-to-cradle, slow-fashion, locally-made,
re-use, recycle and re-make (or upcycle). Each of these concepts focuses on the design and manufacture of products that
are essentially made to comply to a theoretical sustainable framework, thus enabling people to live in harmony with our
planet. In an ideal world we would consume and waste less however, to be truly sustainable we also require a healthy
economy and so there is dichotomy to be resolved in our consumption behaviours and economic needs; Craft practices
have been identified as fitting the bill rather aptly allowing us, in theory, to consume goods at less expense to the
environment. Currently we are experiencing a period of, let’s call it ‘Crafts Nouveau’, unlike the Arts and Crafts Movement
of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries where craft was employed by designer-entrepreneurs, and unlike the
Art Nouveau Movement which again harnessed the skills of designers and artists, today amateur craft-workers are joining
the trained artisans in bringing hand-crafted items to the marketplace in their droves. Online platforms such as eBay and
Etsy are helping such keen, but untrained producers of craft articles to set up micro businesses to sell their wares adding
considerably to the amount of stuff available to consumers. As Luckman (2013: 260) states with regard to Etsy, there
is ‘no gatekeeping around formal training’ and that this ‘inclusiveness’ potentially fixes a price of less value to all craft
items, including the work of those with comparatively higher skill sets and expertise. The Craft Council (2014) reported
11,620 craft businesses operating in the UK employing around 43,250 people, of which, almost 17% are unregistered
microbusinesses; while it is not to say that all of these unregistered businesses are run by amateur crafters, but the
concept of devaluing skilled craft labour may still be appreciated within this.

This paper explores the value of design in craft from a theoretical perspective, drawing on a broad range of texts beyond
those confined to craft to bring about a more holistic understanding within the context of sustainable production, with the
addition of observations and insights from personal experience. The personal insights originate from the researcher’s
accounts and observations of the journey from crafter to trained designer to master class practitioner in order to better
understand the role of design in craft in the applied sense. The researcher continues to practice secondary to academia
for the purpose of pleasure, experimentation and for further learning and research purposes. Research approaches are
used to develop this inquiry to evaluate the role of design in the wider concept of craft as a sustainable means, both
economically and socially. While the larger body of research considers a range of crafts, the emphasis in this paper is on
those related to textiles given the researcher’s experience and the relationship with fashion, trends and marketing, which
must not be discounted as a driver of the current craft revival. As the research study is still in its infancy the purpose of
this paper is to attempt to begin to consolidate a range of perspectives gained from theory and observational research
in order to invite a critical debate around the value of design in craft and the new craft movement in the context of
sustainable futures.