Design charrette: Co creating design possibilities for the future

This paper discusses how multidisciplinary groups approach co-creational design possibilities through craft, potentially moving from shaping the future through individual design practice to making sense of the future with the help of co-creators as they do. (Sanders and Stappers 2014) It reports on observations from a recent Design Charrette on Scottish basket making where makers, designers, architects, engineers, heritage specialists, curators, academics and design students attempted to co create heritage craft practices within a contemporary design context. Multiple data gathering methods illuminate how these heterogeneous actors (Emilson and Hillgren 2014) contribute and negotiate different ideas and maker practices, and how they resolve conflict in order to “open-up” design possibilities. By envisioning the complex relationships people build with each other and with the material and object cultures in the fuzzy front of end of the design processes (Sanders and Stappers 2008) the paper discusses how new communities of practice may emerge from people who have different ways of knowing and doing. Furthermore, it explores how co creational and participatory methods contribute to convergences between heritage and design.