Craft as Leverage for Sustainable Design Transformation: A Theoretical Foundation

Traditional craft is often perceived as going against the flow of technological, economic and societal progress. However, emergent research is rediscovering the nature of craft and its potential for contributing to contemporary manufacturing and sustainability. Based on literature, this paper presents an interpretation of craft from three perspectives: practical, epistemological and ontological. Through an analysis of the nature of craft and making, and a comprehensive understanding of design for sustainability, the relationship between craft and sustainability is summarized in terms of accordances and tensions. The contribution of this paper is to: (1) explore practices and meanings of craft in relation to sustainability; and (2) illustrate one lens on the theoretical framing of the relationship between craft and contemporary understandings of sustainability. We argue that craft, as a system of making, knowing and being, has significant potential to contribute to transition, serving as an agency for sustainable transformation.