Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of Wolverhampton
Craft Research: Joining Emotion and Knowledge
Brief Description
This paper was presented at the international peer-reviewed Design and Emotion conference 2010. It considers how craft and research can join in the enterprise of craft research. It explores the experiential and emotional nature of craft and how this can be integrated within the current strictures of research based on Niedderer’s previous work on experiential knowledge (cf. output 1). Niedderer’s contribution is mostly in the development of the theoretical framework, Townsend’s in the examples of practical integration. The article has provided the basis for the editorial of the inaugural issue of the journal Craft Research (vol. 1(1), 2010, http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=172 , http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/crre/2010/00000001/00000001/art00001 ) Craft Research was founded by Niedderer and co-editor Townsend in 2010, which is held by over 40 institutions worldwide, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the American Crafts Council: http://www.craftcouncil.org/post/100-years-periodicals-acc-library This work has put Niedderer and Townsend at the forefront of recent discussions on craft enabling them to shape the idea and practice of craft research.
Research Rationale
This article reviews the emerging need for research in the crafts from the practitioner’s perspective based on the sensibilities of material understanding and human values. The contribution of the article is a better understanding of the relationship of craft and research through the notion of experiential knowledge, and of the value of research for advancing craft as a discipline that is viable for the future.
Strategies Undertaken
Examining the ideas of knowledge in craft and research, the paper proposes that experiential knowledge is inherent in both, that it can serve as unifying conceptual underpinning to overcome the perceived tensions, helping to build practice-led research in the crafts that encompasses both craft’s focus on human values and the concept of rigour of traditional research.
