What is Craft?

…today?

A search for the authentic experience, the one-of-a-kind and the unique has fed our interest in craft since the nineteenth century. The traces of the hand that remain in an object - its irregularity of surface, its imperfection, its spontaneity - contrast with industrially-produced objects. Today, innovative ideas, technologies, materials, and environments are challenging craftsmen to experiment with new forms of expression, blurring the boundaries traditionally thought to separate art, craft and design.

No longer defined as craft, art or design, these newcomers raise questions about what “handwork” or “handcraft” means today and what the role of the hand might be in the making of objects in the future. Many of the objects that challenge the definition of craft are still carefully handmade but used or set in new and surprising contexts.

…in education?

Craft fulfils different functions for different individuals. For some, it is therapeutic, for others, it is a vehicle for communication. For others still, a craft may be developed into a career or a window to the individual’s personal uniqueness. Craft is a valuable tool that opens doors, incites dreams and builds bridges. Craft is a vehicle for learning basic educational skills and identifying abilities.

Craft also serves an equal purpose in the total education of the whole individual. The power that is experienced when one creates can stretch boundaries and defy limitations.

…in general?

Craft emphasises five primary media – ceramics, glass, textiles, wood, metal - and how these materials are manipulated.

No single definition of the word satisfies the range of activities that craft includes; there is no other term to describe the way in which creative thought interacts with a knowledge of materials and techniques to create an object.

Craft is a flexible term, shifting from a verb that describes action to modify or transform a material to a noun that describes a class of objects.

Craft has something important to say about “how things are made”, a respect for the skills, tools, and techniques that are used to transform ideas and materials into objects of use, meaning and beauty.

…in history?

Craft is a word that has adapted over time, responding to changes in the cultural, social, technological and economic environment.

Throughout the history of human culture, objects have been conceived and created to meet many different goals. Some have been made for practical and utilitarian purposes such as clothing, vessels and furnishings. Others have been made for symbolic purposes and serve to communicate religious, political, social and economic ideas.

One quality shared by both is their ability to express themselves aesthetically through an attractive design, the beauty of materials used, their uniqueness, or through their workmanship.

Used with kind permission of the Houston Centre for Contemporary Craft

www.crafthouston.org