Home | Talks | Craft & Design – Bridging the Divide Part of the Series ‘Design History Now’

Craft & Design – Bridging the Divide Part of the Series ‘Design History Now’

Details

Feb 12 2023 to Feb 12 2023 6:30 p.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

In the Indian context, the word ‘craft’ invokes associations with repetitive, manual labour that is part of an unchanging, community-based, endangered tradition. Research and policy- making around the crafts have actively propagated this nativist narrative since Independence. By contrast, art and design are seen as creative, individual endeavours ushering in change and innovation. Were these craft practices really as ancient as we think or were they at the forefront of the technological advances of their time? What stories might we find, if we looked in the archives, about change and innovation in the crafts? Historically, the crafts that thrived, combined design capabilities with technological innovation, achieving market success. In other words, design capabilities have been active drivers of both craft and design. Using instances from the history of the sari from weaving mechanisms to dyeing methods, draping patterns to design preferences, this talk moves away from the slant on craft as unchanging tradition towards craft as skilled, conscious, embodied practice that entails creative and technical mastery. This also raises important concerns about how we understand creativity and authorship vis-à-vis craft and design as well as the role markets play in shaping creativity. This talk is the first in Design History Now, a series exploring design histories that connect to our contemporary moment. The series brings together a selection of speakers who engage with design as a social, political and ecological agent, and consider how design is in turn shaped by these forces. The intention is to offer a vision of design history that is deeply critical in its approach, and in tune with its contemporary relevance and purpose.


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