The role of craft in creative innovation: skin, cloth and metal

This paper explores the central idea of creative innovation in the crafts through research methodologies informed by experiential knowledge of fashion, textiles and jewellery practices. The relationship between the body, materials and technology is reinforced through discussion of aspects of two projects, Crafting Anatomies (Townsend et al 2015) and Flex-It (Dean and Niedderer 2014) which the authors were involved in and which draw on references to advanced, modern and historical crafting contexts. The paper seeks to demonstrate how craft, and research through craft, can facilitate creative innovation by mediating the recursive interaction between analogue and digital techniques (Adamson 2015). In Crafting Anatomies, skin as material and clothing, is the starting point from which to craft new biological, surgical and wearable outcomes, informed by fashion and textile approaches. Flex-It explores elasticity as a medium for emotional expression in silver jewellery design and production, and how complex pieces devised using established techniques to incorporate moving parts, can be produced using additive manufacturing. The examples demonstrate how craft continually reinvents itself, by contributing to its own development while benefiting the wider areas of human experience and existence

Facilitating behaviour change through mindful design

This chapter offers an introduction to mindful design and its potential to promote responsible behaviour change. While it is recognized that design changes users’ behaviour, design often has inadvertent consequences which are not considered at the point of designing, and which can cause significant social, environmental or other issues later. In this chapter, it is argued that mindfulness – as an attitude of awareness and attentiveness – can be embedded in design and as such can help users to make more responsible decisions through the use of mindful design. The argument proceeds through the analysis of the concepts of mindfulness and mindful design, and is supported by a number of examples to explain the role and position of mindful design as a useful approach to designing for behaviour chan

Crafting health, well-being and happiness

Craft as a profession has long been associated with dexterity and skill, independence and fulfilment. From the Renaissance onwards, we have many accounts of craftsmen and women who take great care and responsibility in their practice and who present their work and themselves with pride. Today, with the advent of leisure time, growth in ageing populations and medical and technological advances, the crafts have become more multi-layered than ever, with applications in areas well beyond traditional professions. With this shift, craft practice is increasingly recognized as a positive influence on personal and communal well-being when used as a vocational, leisure and social activity

Experiencing the world with archetypal symbols: A new form of aesthetics.

According to the theories of symbolic interactionism, phenomenology of perception and archetypes, we argue that symbols play the key role in translating the information from the physical world to the human experience, and archetypes are the universal knowledge of cognition that generates the background of human experience (the life-world). Therefore, we propose a conceptual framework that depicts how people experience the world with symbols, and how archetypes relate the deepest level of human experience. This framework indicates a new direction of research on memory and emotion, and also suggests that archetypal symbolism can be a new resource of aesthetic experience design.Postprint (published version

Crafting the Composite Garment: The role of hand weaving in digital creation

There is a growing body of practice-led textile research, focused on how digital technologies can inform new design and production strategies that challenge and extend the field. To date, this research has emphasized a traditional linear transition between hand and digital production; with hand production preceding digital as a means of acquiring the material and process knowledge required to negotiate technologies and conceptualize designs. This paper focuses on current Doctoral research into the design and prototyping of 3D woven or 'composite' garments and how the re-learning, or reinterpreting, of hand weaving techniques in a digital Jacquard format relies heavily on experiential knowledge of craft weaving skills. Drawing parallels between hand weaving and computer programming, that extend beyond their shared binary (pixel-based) language, the paper discusses how the machine-mediated experience of hand weaving can prime the weaver to ‘think digitally’ and make the transition to digital production. In a process where the weaver acts simultaneously as designer, constructor and programmer, the research explores the inspiring, but often indefinable space between craft and digital technology by challenging the notion that 'the relationship between hand, eye and material’ naturally precedes the use of computing (Harris 2012: 93). This is achieved through the development of an iterative working methodology that encompasses a cycle of transitional development, where hand weaving and digital processes take place in tandem, and techniques and skills are reinterpreted to exploit the advantages and constraints of each construction method. It is argued that the approach challenges the codes and conventions of computer programming, weaving and fashion design to offer a more sustainable clothing solution

Design for Behaviour Change as a Driver for Sustainable Innovation: Challenges and Opportunities for Implementation in the Private and Public Sectors

Over the last decade, design for behaviour change has become increasingly recognised as a strategy for enabling social change. Despite this, we are far from understanding its implementation, especially through the private and public sectors. This study has surveyed private and public sector stakeholders with regard to their current knowledge of, and approach to, design for behaviour change. The aim was to identify the challenges for professional stakeholders in understanding, accessing and implementing design for behaviour change. Underpinned by a literature review of design for behaviour change theories and approaches, an online survey and two focus groups with private and public sector stakeholders were conducted with particular focus on small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). The results identified that there is a significant disconnect between available theoretical knowledge of design for behaviour change and its practical implementation. Reasons for this include a lack of awareness and common language, of evidence based examples, and of evaluation methods and inter-sector collaborations. In response, a set of recommendations has been developed to propose ways forward for the wider understanding and application of design for behaviour change