1st Edition
Craft and Design Practice from an Embodied Perspective
This book brings together contributors from multiple disciplines, such as crafts, design, art education, cognitive philosophy, and sociology, to discuss craft and design practice from an embodied perspective.
Through theoretical overviews of embodied cognition and research-based cases that involve the researchers’ making experiences, different phenomena of human–material interaction are presented, analysed, and discussed. The practical cases exemplify ways in which embodied notions show up in action. Contributors examine topics such as the embodied basis of craft activities and material manipulation, experiential knowledge and skill learning, reflection in and on action, and material dialogues. Several chapters specifically discuss the hybrid forms of analogue and digital crafting that increasingly takes place in the field of crafts and design, and the changed notions of material engagement that this entails.
The book will appeal to scholars of crafts, design, art education, anthropology, and sociology.
Preface
Nithikul Nimkulrat and Camilla Groth
Introduction
Camilla Groth and Nithikul Nimkulrat
SECTION I: CRAFT AS EMBODIED MAKING AND LEARNING
Section I Introduction
1. Dynamic affordances in human-material “dialogues”
Camilla Groth and Michael Kimmel
2. Craft Thinking: A relational approach to making and design
Ingar Brinck
3. Becoming with glass: Medium and materiality in embodied knowledge
Erin O’Connor
4. Feeling how: MET and embodied cognition in the learning of pottery skills
Catherine O’Brien and Lambros Malafouris
5. Embodied craft practices: Mindful flow, creativity, and collaboration as drivers for wellbeing
Kristina Niedderer and Katherine Townsend
SECTION II: MATERIALITY OF MATERIALS AND NON-MATERIALS IN CRAFT
Section II Introduction
6. Embodied knowledge integrated into robotic wire cutting of clay
Flemming Tvede Hansen
7. Making, playing, crafting – Connecting embodied practices in play, game design, and hybrid making
Michael Nitsche and Jihan Sherman
8. Hand thought: Hybrid practices and a digital craft ethos
Justin Marshall
9. Grasping materiality – Digitalization in light of educational arts and crafts practice
Lovise Søyland
SECTION III: ARTEFACTS AS MATERIAL EXTENSIONS OF CRAFT EXPERIENCE
Section III Introduction
10. Traces of craft experience in artefacts
Nithikul Nimkulrat
11. Scaffolding visualization and mental rotation in designing and crafting
Marte S. Gulliksen & Camilla Groth
12. Making bumps and jumping hurdles: Understanding resistance in the processes of raising aluminium from a novice’s perspective
Anniken Randers-Pehrson
13. Making sense with things in participatory design
Jelle van Dijk
14. Interactive connected smart (ICS) materials experience: Collaborative embodied knowledge through material tinkering
Stefano Parisi, Venere Ferraro, and Valentina Rognoli
Afterword
Tim Ingold
Biography
Nithikul Nimkulrat is Associate Professor at OCAD University, Canada.
Camilla Groth is Associate Professor at University of South-Eastern Norway, Norway.
“This splendid collection advances our understanding of embodied cognition and experiential knowledge in craftwork and sets the pace for future theory. Its multidisciplinary cast of authors deliver unique insights into human–material interactions, skilled situated practice and the dynamics of thinking through making – both in traditional crafts and the emerging digital and virtual realms.”
Trevor H. J. Marchand, SOAS, University of London
“This book shines a light on the nature and value of embodied experiences within the spheres of making and materiality. The various chapters bring ideas around becoming, feeling, well-being, interconnection and relationality to the fore, which are all critical aspects of craft and design practices that seek to counter dominate modes of production and affect positive change. I would recommend this book to those who wish to establish, understand, and champion such practice.”
Faith Kane, Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts, Massey University
