>[!NOTE]+ Meta Author:: [[Ezra Shales]] Reference:: https://garlandmag.com/loop/the-shape-of-craft/ Date:: 2021-04-21 Tags:: #USA #fibre WeftLinks:: [[Reinventing the Wheel]] Question:: [[Question - What is the role of the handmade in an industrial society]] ### Summary Salutation from [[Hyeyoung Cho]] in South Korean language #SouthKorea > IN-JA-MU-JEOK > The benevolent have no enemy because the intention is always with wisdom and compassion. Ezra Shales is from Boston, where he teaches at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Shales had contributed two important articles to the Journal of Modern Craft which argued for the continuing presence of the hand in industrial society, whether the construction of the Empire State Building or event Duchamp's legendary urinal. This interest in anonymous craft was further developed in his 2018 book, The Shape of Craft, which looked under the hood of much production to find continuing artisanal work, such as the story we published in Garland of [Kevin Millward The pleasure of anonymous artifice](https://garlandmag.com/article/kevin-millward/) who creates moulds from his hand-thrown pots to be produced without acknowledgement under designer's brand. The book developed concepts of "collated craftsmanship", "ghost potters", "craftsteaders", mnemosynthesis and locational aesthetics. The Shape of Craft also takes seriously the oft denigrated craft of basket weaving. ![[H8QNmNZ_Zz.pdf]] In his talk, Ezra Shales accounted for his journey as a craft writer, which involved spending time in factories around the world to better understand the enduring role of the hand. This paralleled his experience growing up in New York, where he was inspired by the graffiti art that existed outside the gallery system. This continued recently with an interest in the omnipresent ice cream graffiti that had emerged across Boston. This side of craft concerned the expression of a freedom that was in opposition to the hegemony. This might be seen to be a particularly North American approach to craft. In reflecting on his research in IKEA, he spoke of the way our designs are framed by the shipping crate, which determines so many of the decisions about a product's eventual form, as opposed to its actual function in everyday life. Shales spoke of his enduring interest in basket-weaving. For him, willow is a technology in itself, not just an inert material. In terms of craft and design, he argued they were connected symbiotically, as lichen combines algae and fungus. In summary, Shales returned to a guiding principle of Stuart Hall, that you have to think of where you are practicing and work in the contingencies of the present. The discussion that followed was wide-ranging and included the paradox of trying to recognise the spirit of the hand made by placing in a gallery space where it would be frozen. <div style="display: block; position: relative; width: 100%; height: 0px; --aspect-ratio:9/16; padding-bottom: calc(var(--aspect-ratio) * 100%);"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.be/embed/bXTH9qw4opU" allow="fullscreen" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; height: 100%; width: 100%;"></iframe></div>