2024-01-10 Newsletter - Knowledge House for Craft

[[KHC Newsletter]] # January news 🏠 <table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><p><img src="https://storage.mlcdn.com/account_image/442815/rE4CO4fxSy0VN0Waj5A6iEg755UVmj9eoPwhwm86.png" alt="The Knowledge House and Chapter 1 in HouseWork(s) at The Rooms, St. John’s, 2014" width="540"></p></td></tr></tbody></table> <table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><p><em>Pamela Hall <span><a href="https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2MDMzNzc1MzMsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiI4MTI5OTIwMzVkZDVhZGMzIn0" target="_blank" data-link-id="109958764603377533">The Knowledge House and Chapter 1 in HouseWork(s) at The Rooms, St. John’s, 2014</a></span></em></p></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table> <table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><h2>Knowledge House for Craft</h2><p dir="ltr">Dear consortium members, Knowledge House for Craft’s friends and advocates!</p><p dir="ltr">This is our sixth newsletter: the roving editors greet you, and hope the following offerings meet your interest.</p><p dir="ltr">The Knowledge House has grown from an informal gathering to an active knowledge-building and sharing platform, with a <a href="https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2MDc1NzE4MzksXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiI3ZDFhOWQ1NjI0ZjhjYWYwIn0" data-link-id="109958764607571839">board</a>, a growing network of <a href="https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2MTA3MTc1NjksXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiJjYjM5NTU5ODI3MTVhMWQxIn0" data-link-id="109958764610717569">member associations</a>, and consortium participants.</p><p dir="ltr">Our <a href="https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2MTQ5MTE4NzUsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiIwMzUxMDZiMTYwMWIwODMxIn0" data-link-id="109958764614911875">manifesto </a>has guided our activities to date. The <a href="https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2MTkxMDYxODAsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiJjZjU5OTBiNTU4MDdkMGNhIn0" data-link-id="109958764619106180">vault </a>is a place where a dynamic group of volunteers store articles related to craft and provide House guests with a summary of its key points.<br></p><p dir="ltr">Best regards from the roving editorial team,</p><p dir="ltr">Kaamya Sharma (India) | Liliana Morais (Japan) | Kevin Murray (Australia)<br></p></td></tr></tbody></table> <table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><table role="presentation"><tbody><tr><th><a href="https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2MjMzMDA0ODYsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiI1NmY1MDAwZTdjYmFhYjU5In0" target="_self" data-link-id="109958764623300486"><p>Visit us</p></a></th></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table> <table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table> ## Suggested readings/ films [**AI and the Creative Process**](https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2Mjc0OTQ3OTIsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiI3MjFiN2NlNDljNGU5YTlmIn0) In this 3 part series from _JSTOR Daily,_ authors discuss the implications of AI & creativity in the context of art, & by extension craft. Each part is concluded with a comprehensive reading list which is particularly useful. [**Indian Art, Architecture & Design Biennale 2023**](https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2MzE2ODkwOTgsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiI1ODA5OGM3ZTM3YzBiMzQ3In0) The Ministry of Culture, Govt of India has launched the first art, architecture & design biennale at the historic Red Fort, Delhi. The Biennale is from 8-15 Dec, 2023 and the pavilions will be open to public until 31st March, 2024. [**Red Lilies, Water Birds**](https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2MzU4ODM0MDQsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiI3OGRiNjI5YWVlZmI3OGExIn0) [The Registry of Sarees](https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2MzkwMjkxMzUsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiI5MTZlNzMwZmQ0YWIzZGJkIn0) is a research and documentation centre based out of Bangalore, India, that aims to facilitate its collection to both urban and rural communities. With the conclusion of the first exhibition in 2022 at Anegundi, Hampi, Red Lilies, Water Birds is now in its second iteration. The exhibition places the saree as a part of broader cultural dialogue and exchanges in India. Red Lilies, Water Birds is on from 9-23 Dec, 2023 at Bangalore, India. **BOOK** **_Japan, the Sustainable Society: The Artisanal Ethos, Ordinary Virtues, and Everyday Life in the Age of Limits_****, by John Lie. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2021** Winner of the [ICAS Book Prize 2023 in Social Sciences](https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2NDMyMjM0NDEsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiJkMzUxMWRjOTM4ZTM1YmZlIn0), sociologist’s John Lie’s most recent book explores “traditional” (and less traditional) forms of knowledge, values, and practices that have survived in post-growth Japan and how they may help us envision a more sustainable future. Examples range from what the author calls the “ordinary virtues” of cleaning, bathing, occupational equality, and, what concerns us the most Knowledge House of Craft, the “artisanal ethos”, of which sushi-making is the quintessential Japanese example. Describing the artisanal ethos as “a distinct orientation to work and to what work entails” that “is not enforced by an overbearing boss or mandated by employee guidelines” (p. 145), Lie sees this work ethos, which is not unique to or universal in Japan, as shaped by autonomy, control, intrinsic motivation, and a deep knowledge of materials and tools. Despite the dense analysis of Japan’s current economic, political, and social predicaments, followed by a detailed critique of the current dominant ideology of economic growth, Lie’s book brings a much needed historical and sociological perspective to imagining how values and practices stemming from Japan can help bring about a more humane and just future. **_EXHIBITION [The Beloved Gods and Buddhas of Northeastern Japan (Tokyo Station Gallery, until February 12, 2024)](https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2NDc0MTc3NDcsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiJlYzY5NzhkM2RmODdkYWQwIn0)_** A special exhibition of a total of 130 simple and undecorated folk Buddha statues woodcarved by carpenters in local villages from the Tohoku region during the Edo period of premodern Japan. **_The Birth of Saké_** The Birth of Saké is a cinematic documentary that reveals the story of passionate saké-makers and what it takes to make world-class saké at Yoshida Brewery, a 150-year-old family-owned small brewery in northern Japan. [https://www.birthofsake.com/](https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2NTE2MTIwNTMsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiJmNzhiY2UwNzQ1OGQ0YjdkIn0) ### **Recent book publications** Bose, C., & Mohsini, M. (2023). _Encountering craft: Methodological approaches from anthropology, art history, and design_. Routledge. Burman, B. (2023). _The Point of the Needle: Why Sewing Matters_. Reaktion Books. Luckman, S., & Thomas, N. (2023). _Craft Communities_. Bloomsbury Publishing. <table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table><h2>New to our Vault</h2><p></p><p dir="ltr">Recent additions to our vault include:</p><p dir="ltr">Authors:</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Trevor Marchand</p></li></ul><p dir="ltr">Additions to our organisation network:</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Jugaad Project</p></li></ul><p dir="ltr">Claims as part of the Value of Craft Project</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Claim - Craft-design collaborations can give different peoples a common interest.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Claim - Craft provides a peaceful means of championing justice.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Claim - Locally handmade objects provide diplomatic gifts to bind friendly relations between peoples</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Claim - Craft helps in recovery from war</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Claim - Craft enhances creativity</p></li></ul><p dir="ltr">References</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Ceramic cockerels surprise Boris Johnson and Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Kyiv walk</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Craft Has Seen a Surge During the Pandemic, but Turning to Art Amid Turmoil Is Not New</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Craft in the Laboratory</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Craftwork as Problem Solving - Ethnographic Studies of Design and Making</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Dream versus reality - Disarming Design</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Fewer Better Things</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Forces in Translation - Interface of basketry, mathematics and anthropology</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Glenn Adamson on Craft as a Reflection of Ourselves</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Reviving an Ancient Lost Fabric</p></li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table> <table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table> ## Activities from the network members <table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><table><tbody><tr><td><img src="https://storage.mlcdn.com/account_image/442815/eTO0Yjwq5f09dvN36Z93j877rfgKo6i60xcg8srI.png" alt="" width="540"></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><p><em>The wood workshop in the slöjd seminar school.The school was built in 1880 according to designs by Swedish architect Adrian C. Peterson. The ground floor was - and still is - dedicated to craft learning and seminar rooms. The upper floor has now been turned into a museum, where one can visit, among other things, a communal bedroom where erstwhile male participants would have been housed. Image: Ben Lignel</em></p><h3><em>Ben Lignel visits the home of slöjd<br></em></h3><p dir="ltr">This month, Board member Ben Lignel visited <a href="https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2NTQ3NTc3ODIsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiIzZDQwNmEyMWVmNGExYjk2In0" data-link-id="109958764654757782">Nääs</a>, a small patch of land 30km East of Gothenburg, on which August Abrahamson and his nephew Otto Salomon set up a school for teachers in 1872, in order to promote and disseminate Salomon’s craft-centric educational system. The system, known as slöjd (or Sloyd) was integrated into Swedish middle school curricula in 1877, and means that - to this day – any person attending a public school in Sweden will receive craft training between the ages of 9 and 15.</p><p dir="ltr">Salomon, like a few others around the same time (Tagore, in India, comes to mind) believed that learning by making would foster “a certain power of mind and body”. The system focused primarily on making utilitarian objects, steered pupils towards ever-greater autonomy around the wood shop, and generally viewed the acquisition of hand-making skills as a means to shape good citizens.</p><p dir="ltr">Slöjd’s association with nationalism is apparent in Salomon’s insistence that trainees wear traditional costumes, and in the choice of “models” the students reproduced. That did not prepare me for the essentially international outlook of the school: people came from far and wide to study the model, and Nääs seem to have attracted well-to-do socialites, international pedagogy specialists, and future (local) teachers in equal parts.</p><p dir="ltr">Slöjd is no longer the popular program it once was, but I speculate that it continues to pervade Swedish culture and may be credited for the familiarity students in seem to have with craft.</p><p dir="ltr">See <a href="https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2NTg5NTIwODgsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiI0NDE5OGEyNDZjMTM2YmY5In0" data-link-id="109958764658952088">The Nääs Method</a></p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> <table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><table><tbody><tr><td><img src="https://storage.mlcdn.com/account_image/442815/MjCp4yxYDY6bhHtfJA1D7amOatd2A1uWx0IJiPVC.jpg" alt="" width="540"></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><h3><em>Kevin Murray attends a Vietnamese craft extravaganza</em><br></h3><p dir="ltr">I attended the inaugural Festival of Craft Villages in Hanoi, Vietnam. This included a two-hour concert that was broadcast live nationally, in which the crafts were orchestrated and choreographed in elaborate performances. It demonstrated the way crafts are integral to the Vietnamese commune system of autonomous local communities.</p><p dir="ltr">I also participated in a forum at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale, which lived up to its reputation as a magnificent exhibition of contemporary craft in dialogue with tradition. The paper was <a href="https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2NjMxNDYzOTQsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiI5MmE4MDNkZDQ2ZTRhYTIwIn0" data-link-id="109958764663146394">A place in the book of mankind: Global structures of local identity</a></p><h3><em>Sachiko Tamashige is impressed with a new craft exhibition in Japan</em></h3><p dir="ltr">Sachiko was taken with the exhibition In the Genes, Taking Marvelous Meiji Craftmanship into the Future in Mitsui Memorial Museum of Art in Nihonbashi, Tokyo and then touring across Japan. She shared her thoughts in <a href="https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2Njk0Mzc4NTIsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiJhMDA3NDA5ZDYzNmY0MDQ2In0" data-link-id="109958764669437852">Chozetsugiko ✿ The transcendent technique of Meiji craftsmanship reimagined</a> for Garland magazine. This exhibition reveals the other side to the more humble mingei tradition in Japanese craft. <em>Chozetsugiko </em>is similar to the European baroque celebration of extravagant mimicry of nature.</p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> <table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table><h2>Opportunities for the network</h2><p></p><p><strong>The 2024 Textile Society of America Symposium</strong><br></p><p dir="ltr"><strong><em>Shifts and Strands: Rethinking the Possibilities and Potentials of Textiles</em></strong></p><p dir="ltr">The theme invites us to reflect on the many exciting shifts in textiles as historical and contemporary, cultural, creative, scholarly, political, discursive, and scientific practices.</p><p dir="ltr"><strong>Date:</strong> Mid-November 2024</p><p dir="ltr"><strong>Modality:</strong> Virtual on Zoom</p><p dir="ltr"><strong>Deadline to submit to the call for participation: </strong>March 30, 2024</p><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2NzQ2ODA3MzQsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiJjYWI0MzQwYTgxMmMwMzdhIn0" data-link-id="109958764674680734">https://textilesocietyofamerica.org/symposia/symposium-2024-shifts-and-strands</a><br></p></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table> <table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table> ## Question In his book _Fewer, Better Things,_ Glenn Adamson poses a thought experiment suggested to him by Chris Pellettieri, a stone carver: “Imagine that the skill of playing the violin had died out long ago and been forgotten, and you stumbled across a Stradivarius in an attic. Assuming you even recognized it as a musical instrument, how would you go about learning to play it?” We have exceptional examples of people in our world today who go about the difficult quest of learning a craft that has long since been forgotten. We use the Stradivarius thought experiment to pose a question about material knowledge and vanishing skills: how do we go about archiving knowledge of making in our quest to archive materials and objects? Things decay or wear out. The best conservation efforts can, at most, preserve them for a few centuries. What happens after that? <table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table> <table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><table><tbody><tr><td>Knowledge House for Craft 6 Blyth Street, Brunswick<br>Australia<table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><table role="presentation"><tbody><tr></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td><td></td><td><p>You received this email because you signed up on our website or made a purchase from us.</p><table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><p><a href="https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2Nzk5MjM2MTUsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiI4MGE5NDFlY2M1YTQ2ZmE4In0" data-link-id="109958764679923615" data-link-type="unsubscribe">Unsubscribe</a></p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table> <table><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://preview.mailerlite.io/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjQ0MjgxNSxcImxcIjoxMDk5NTg3NjQ2ODUxNjY0OTYsXCJyXCI6MTA5OTU4NzY2MzMwMzgxNjA1fSIsInMiOiJhYWI3YTA5YTViMWMzMGZiIn0" target="_blank" data-link-id="109958764685166496"><img width="100" alt="Sent by MailerLite" src="https://assets.mlcdn.com/ml/logo/sent-by-mailerlite.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table>