Tomorrow's treasures
Artisans Jonathan Foyle reports on designers' attempts to create highly valued objects of the future using the craftsmanship of the past
FT, 18 october 2014
what should we do this craft traditions in the mechanised 21st century? we all play out unspoken answers each day, our houses reflecting tendencies towards a traditionalist or a contemporary bent. But in practice we - and our homes - always end up representing a compromise.
However cutting-edge, most furniture models a time-honoured meaning: you recognise a new chair by the expression of its ancient function, beyond the dynamic lines of its synthetic materials.
Yet if we value true craft traditions, how can we maintain their thread? Hand to eye skill upholds the experiences of elders, but generations are no longer rooted to places and local natural materials which become scarcer. Factory-made synthetics are cheap and disposable - not worth inheriting.
We have had too much of all that, says Rosy Greenlees, exec director of UK Craft Council. The demand for soulful objects that manifest a maker's intelligence, the wear and ingrained history of fine materials, have always exerted a pull. She claims that the situation has changed since the 2008 crash "people (…) are interested in ow well it's been made. And it's not just about beautiful objects - since the recession people want provenance and integrity.
Greenlees believes new investment in craft has a value beyond objects. Engineers, designers and surgeons need the manual dexterity that the apprenticed hand and eye can give. Handcrafted materials can drive future technology. (….she gives the example of glass designer Matt Durran who made moulds for growing human tissue that could withstand bioreactor which led to the first tissue engineered throat transplant...) and if the traditionally made, cutting edge technology is also a beautiful object, it is a bonus.
Artisans Jonathan Foyle reports on designers' attempts to create highly valued objects of the future using the craftsmanship of the past
FT, 18 october 2014
what should we do this craft traditions in the mechanised 21st century? we all play out unspoken answers each day, our houses reflecting tendencies towards a traditionalist or a contemporary bent. But in practice we - and our homes - always end up representing a compromise.
However cutting-edge, most furniture models a time-honoured meaning: you recognise a new chair by the expression of its ancient function, beyond the dynamic lines of its synthetic materials.
Yet if we value true craft traditions, how can we maintain their thread? Hand to eye skill upholds the experiences of elders, but generations are no longer rooted to places and local natural materials which become scarcer. Factory-made synthetics are cheap and disposable - not worth inheriting.
We have had too much of all that, says Rosy Greenlees, exec director of UK Craft Council. The demand for soulful objects that manifest a maker's intelligence, the wear and ingrained history of fine materials, have always exerted a pull. She claims that the situation has changed since the 2008 crash "people (…) are interested in ow well it's been made. And it's not just about beautiful objects - since the recession people want provenance and integrity.
Greenlees believes new investment in craft has a value beyond objects. Engineers, designers and surgeons need the manual dexterity that the apprenticed hand and eye can give. Handcrafted materials can drive future technology. (….she gives the example of glass designer Matt Durran who made moulds for growing human tissue that could withstand bioreactor which led to the first tissue engineered throat transplant...) and if the traditionally made, cutting edge technology is also a beautiful object, it is a bonus.
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