Sustainable craft in practice: From practice to theory

Abstract

Concerns regarding the presence and future of craft in a sustainability context increase the need to define the concept of ‘sustainable craft’. Based on interviews with sixteen craft practitioners in Finland, this qualitative study describes and analyses craft practitioners’ conceptions of their craft practices and products through the lens of sustainability as implemented in their actions. Using Grounded Theory, the analysis of interview data reveals a holistic system of sustainable craft, comprising three elements: sustainable practice, product and immaterial craft. Through their interaction, these intertwined elements were found to motivate and affect the practitioners and their products. The findings offer a novel perspective on the concept of sustainable craft and a systemic model of sustainability for use by practitioners.

Understanding Finnish student craft teachers’ conceptions of sustainability

“…Cox and Bebbington, 2014; Wals, 2009). The findings suggest that the concept of sustainable craft is an intertwined system of three fundamental elements, each with its own character and properties, as argued in a recent industry study of professional craft practitioners (Väänänen et al , 2017). The present study views sustainable craft from an educational perspective.…”

“…The forthright way to understand sustainability in the craft context is the material approach , in which product life cycle and materials are the most prominent environmental aspects, as suggested by Yair (2010). The present study identified goals for designing sustainable craft products by reference to properties, aligning with the work of Papanek (1995), Nugraha (2012) and Väänänen et al (2017). The individual approach links craft practice skills and product technique and design, where the ability to work and design actions is widely acknowledged as a component of craft skills (Dormer, 1994) and as one of the overall goals of craft education.…”

“…As compared to Väänänen et al (2017), these student teachers were more concerned about the cultural aspects of craft than commercialised sustainability. As student teachers were novice, the professional practitioners had more experience of transferring craft traditions through lectures and workshops.…”

“…These methods of analysis made it possible to estimate transferability to other student craft teacher populations, along with the internal reliability and validity of the interpretation of data and results (Welkowitz et al , 2012; Rowe, 2016). The codes and categories that emerged from the data were read carefully without any theoretical framework, although the data were simultaneously analysed in relation to data previously reported elsewhere (Väänänen et al , 2017). However, the present study takes the analysis further; following statistical description and analysis, the results were compared to existing theories and perspectives on SD, sustainable product design and craft practice to ground the emerging theory (Dey, 2007; Cresswell, 2007; Morse, 2007; Cho and Lee, 2014).…”

“…The environmental approach is reflected by a growing interest in the use of recycled materials in production or marketing eco-design (Fletcher, 2008; Niinimäki, 2011). According to Väänänen et al (2017), the craft entrepreneur’s conception of sustainable craft is a system comprising three fundamental elements: practice, product and immaterial craft. However, there remains a clear need to conceptualise sustainable craft and view it from an educational perspective.…”