Designing craft research: Joining emotion and knowledge

Abstract

This paper considers how both craft and research can be joined in the enterprise of craft research. The rationale is that craft research is still relatively new compared to mainstream design research and that craft, being linked to the creation of artefacts as a source of experience and emotion, is not usually associated with research and the production of knowledge. The paper discusses the emerging need for creative research in the crafts based on sensibilities of material understanding and human values, which contrast with the current strictures of research. Drawing on current models of design research and knowledge, the paper proposes experiential knowledge as the unifying conceptual underpinning of both. The outcome and contribution of the paper is a better understanding of the relationship of craft and research, and of the value of research for advancing craft as a discipline that is viable and relevant for the future.