Past, Present and Future Craft Practice

Past, Present and Future Craft Practice (PPFCP) is a major research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council U.K (2005-2010). It evaluates the aesthetics embodied in craft by analysing methodological approaches embeddedwithin historical and contemporary practice. It seeks to develop a tool for interrogating the process of progress, and evaluate the relationship betweenskill, intellect and culture in order to attend to the following question: Is there a future role for craft? In craft (writings and conversations), the skill of coherently expressing the intellectual and personal voice within the development of work is usually missing. PPFCP challenge the perceptions of the craftsperson to keep the journey silent and author-less to facilitate new knowledge of craft as a process,service and experience, thereby complimenting knowledge of craft as a product and sector, opening up the debate as to the future value of craft. The argument underpinning this research is for craft to be considered as a concern forinnovation, individual vision, intrinsic values and future cultural concerns: a fusion of art, science, engineering, and technology. In doing so, it inverts the perspective from which craft is predominantly viewed and considers craft as a system of thinking rather than an act of skillful making. The premise of this investigation is that craft-based practice is a socially interactive process despite being a predominantly individually executed product, where dialogical methods expose contradictions and nurture mindful interrogation. This paper exposes historical and practical craft knowledge studies through jewellery, metalwork,textiles, interactive media design and film. It gives insight into the contribution to knowledge made by the investigation, both as one dialogue and as a series of five individual craft inquiries. As a result, five new methods are summarised in this paper, including Visual Craft Practitioner, Mindful Craft Inquiry, Participatory Craft Practice and Visual Analysis Model.