Digital Crafting: Defining the Field in 2015

Abstract

From the Introduction:

This paper picks up some of the themes first considered at the Crafting with Digital Technologies workshop convened for Making Futures III (Plymouth College of Art and Oakley 2013) and further explored in the paper: Crafting with Digital Technologies: issues in Practice (Oakley 2014). The digital crafting panel at Making Futures IV: Digital Crafting: defining the field proved to be an opportunity to consolidate contributors’ understandings around the topic, as well as reflect on how far attitudes towards digital processes had changed within different areas of craft over the intervening two years.
The presentations given during the day: position papers and case studies from returning panellists and new presenters (see this volume), did not disappoint. Some of the key points first identified at Making Futures III were reconfirmed through further case studies, whilst the discussions held were most useful as reflections on how far situations differed to or had moved on since 2013.

The panel, and conference as a whole, was held within a context of wider changes within the crafts world (e.g. Crafts Council 2014) and especially shifts in relations between craft, digital technology and ‘digital crafting’ in the UK and abroad. In reflecting on these developments, having attendees from America and Australasia was invaluable. Contributing the knowledge I gained regarding contemporary Asian traditional craft and digital crafting perspectives through presenting at Making Futures: Beijing in 2014 was an additional benefit. The Beijing digital crafting panel included presenters from Beijing, Barcelona. London, San Paolo and Shanghai, making the event truly global. This paper also benefits from my involvement in Making Futures: Korea – part of the Cheongju International Craft Festival - which took place shortly after Making Futures IV (see Oakley 2015). Private discussions with the other MFK presenters and some of the Cheongju festival exhibitors gave a unique insight into the regional issues currently faced by craft practitioners of all persuasions. As a result I now feel a little more confident in comparing the relative rise and perceptions of digital crafting across different global regions and nation-states as well as seeing new links between them: an exercise that helps deepen an understanding of the situation and possible future trajectories in one’s own country.