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Craftmaking Designers Creativity and Empowerment Through Craft Workshops

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Craftmaking Designers Creativity and Empowerment Through Craft Workshops Craftmaking Designers Creativity and Empowerment Through Craft Workshops Pro Gradu Tanja Severikangas Faculty of Arts, Industrial Design University of Lapland Fall 2013 2 Table of Contents 1 Introduction 1.1. Community Craftmaking as a Source for Designers(Tokuji Workshops) 1.2. Craftmaker or Designer 1.!. Action #esearch in a Workshop 1.$. Themes 1.%. #esearch Data and Ana&ysis 1.'. (ow the #esearch is Conducted and the *+pected #esult 1.,. The Structure of this Work 2 #esearch Approaches 2.1. Application of the #esearch Approaches 2.2. Action #esearch 2.!. -ractice.&ed #esearch Dia&ogue 2.$. Discourse Ana&ysis ! #esearch -rocess !.1. -reparation of Workshops !.2. Workshops !.!. The #esults of Workshops $ #e&ated Themes $.1. Community Art $.2. Communa& Craftmaking $.!. Workshop $.$. The -rocess of Craftmaking $.%. Meaning of Making Crafts $.'. Creativity $.,. *mpowerment % Conc&usions %.1. Creativity in Craftmaking %.2. Community of *mpo)erment %.!. Iterative Identity 1uilding %.$. A Crafty Designer %.%. The -roject in #etrospective 3 1.Introduction This #ork is constructed so that this chapter, Introduction, includes the frame of reference of the study% The starting point to my researc" #as the relationship &et#een design and craft making as #ell as the inspirational power found in communal craft making. From there I moved on to forming an action researc" project #hic" involved a series of craft #orkshops% 1.1 Community Craftmaking as a Source for Designers (Tokuji Workshops During my exchange at 2amaguchi -refectural University4 I got invol0ed in a project created 5etween the 2amaguchi -refectural University and Tokuji, a smal& town near5y 2amaguchi city. The town faces the same pro5&ems that many smal& towns near 5igger cities6 the population is aging, 5usinesses are going down4 and al& cu&tural activities cease to exist. This &eads to &ess community action4 thus weakening the sense of community in younger generations4 making it easier for them to &eave for work in 5ig cities. The project is a &ong term col&aboration 5etween the university and townspeop&e4 and the aim is to preser0e and enrichen the cultural activities in the area, as we&& as get students familiar )ith the &ocal area and peop&e. As a part of my master studies4 I took part in a course deve&oping the cu&tural activities in Tokuji. In the course4 we divided into teams and designed something with Tokuji &oca& resources4 using the area as a source of inspiration. We were also involved in a workshop activity6 each of us taught the townspeop&e some craft. The course participation had a 5ig impact on me4 and I ended up taking part during my free time as we&&. I &ater took part in arranging and he&ping at a kid7s summer art workshop during the annual summer festiva&4 and I also painted murals to 5righten up an area near the town hal&. Interconnected activities with the &ocal community and the university were e+treme&y inspiring, and they got me to thinking of communal art and craft making as a source of inspiration. This was the original spark for my research. As I started to &ook more c&ose&y into what it actua&&y was that I had 5een invol0ed in4 I realized that al& the projects I participated in Tokuji were a series of Community "rts projects. I wanted to 4 find the reason why these activities had 5een so stimu&ating. Intuitive&y I deducted that one part of it was the making 5y hand4 and another )as the interaction 5etween peop&e while &earning and teaching ne) things. 9rom these two ideas4 I started to form my research. I tried to recreate similar project within my own social group4 and see what comes out of it. This was a fair&y vague starting point for a study4 5ut it turned out to 5e an interesting project. 1.2 Craftmaker or Designer" Another point of interest in this project is 5etween craft and design. The actual processes are very similar. /y interest towards the re&ation 5etween craftmaking and design has a &ot to do with my own process of defining professional identity. I have a 5ache&or degree in 5oth fine arts and design4 and I7ve always he&d a c&ear distinction 5et)een what I intent as art4 and what is design. In course of design studies4 I7ve come across several views on the subject4 5ut my personal experience is that art is a form of se&f.expression4 and has no other function 5ut to re&ay the idea of the artist. Design4 on the other hand4 is a process in which something that is meant to aid some kind of action is created or improved. I7ve 5een &ooking for similar divider 5et)een craft and design4 5ut have yet to find it. :ictor -apanek describes design as conscious effort to achie0e a meaningful order1. I see craftmaking as situated in 5etween art and design4 or more precise&y over&apping 5oth of them. It is a too& for se&f-expression4 5ut most times the result is a practica& o5ject4 intended for use. Designers might 5e involved in on&y forming a concept for a ne) product4 or e+ecute a project from p&ans to the final product. Similar&y4 craftmaker can finali8e a product4 5ut can also share their patterns to others4 who produce 5asical&y the same product en masse. The discrepancy in this is that some hold a designer-craftsman ideal4 whereas others fee& that handicraft is not what designers are supposed to do2. The image of Finnish Design re&ies heavily on the image that was 5uilt after the Wor&d War II. In an artic&e on Finnis" 'odern Design( ))*+4 (arri ;alha descri5es the perception of Finnish designers at that time as natural4 child.&ike artists !.vThe famous 1 Papanek, 1<,!4 p. 22 2 "damson4 2=1= p. $'=.$'14 Wildenheim and *ames4 (1<%,) 2=1= p. %,=.%,'4 #isatti, 2==, 3 9innish /odern Design4 1<<>4 p. 2<.$% 5 functional design of "&var Aalto and his fol&owers has also given a great impact to designers today. Aalto was also descri5ed as an artist. I fee& this to 5e somehow wrong, that a designer should not 5e an artist. (owever4 I have no answer as to what4 then4 should we 5e. The &egacy of children of nature and functiona&ists has never real&y appealed to me. "&though I appreciate it in a way4 it is not something I can imagine myse&f striving towards to. In short4 I am not sure what kind of designer I want to 5e4 or am supposed to 5e. 1.3 Action %esearch in a Workshop As a research too& I chose Action Research, as it is a method often used when researching communities or actions. The idea is to study the existing environment 5y changing it. This is cal&ed intervention4 and it is often done in a form of a workshop or series of workshops. The action can 5e used for improving the method of working, 5ut this is not necessarily the case. Sometimes the result can 5e a ne) viewpoint4 a new way to think.$ In this study4 I wanted to find out if &ooking at communal craftmaking more c&ose&y could give me a ne) vie)point or inspiration towards design. I chose to do a series of workshops )ith other designers4 and see how we work with craftmaking. I wanted to find out were my e+periences just individual4 or would others 5enefit from this type of activity as we&&. Action Research provides framework for generalizing the process and action. As Aalto&a and Syrj?&? describe4 the result is not a ne) way of working, it is a 5etter understanding of the process.% Furthermore4 Greenwood and Aevin stress that there are no &imits to what kind of research technique should 5e used in an action research process4 as &ong as the way they are used does not oppress the participants. 1.4 Themes Community $rts Community Arts is a theme re&ated to my study most&y 5ecause of the idea of empowerment. Craftmaking itse&f can 5e an empowering action. I see craftmaking as a creative task and furthermore6 it can 5e a very rewarding. As several researchers 4 Heikkinen C Dyrkäm? 1<<<4 $$.$' 5 "a&to&a C Syrj?&?4 1<<< 1>. 6 suggest4 peop&e express and 5uild their identity through the use of objects' . Therefore it could 5e c&aimed that making objects for your own use is &ike making your own identity. 5uilding 5&ocks. The founding idea in Community "rts is that e0eryone is ab&e to create4 to 5e creative4 and Community Arts can he&p peop&e find their own creativity and thus a )ay to e+press themse&ves. This &eads to a fee&ing of empowerment. I agree )ith /irja (iltunen as she points out in her Doctoral thesis that she sees a &ot in common in the approaches of Community "rts and Action Research,. I use 5oth Action Research and Community "rts practices as a 5ase for my study. Communal Craftmaking Communal Craftmaking comes into focus as it is invol0ed in this project and historical&y &inked to making crafts in general. In rural communities4 craft making was a family effort4 and it served the purpose of providing the mem5ers of the family what they needed. *tienne Wenger has studied &earning from the viewpoint of communities of practice4 and his vie) is that they are common human action4 and a part of our e0eryday &ife>. In other words4 peop&e form communities in terms of family4 work and hob5ies.
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