In The Nature of Art and Workmanship, (2007) David Pye asserts that the difference between craft and design is that craft seeks to flawlessly repeat whereas design seeks to find unknown possibilities. Shai’s research project shares that spirit and aims to challenge globalised material culture, interrogate models of industrial production and influence perception of cultural craft.
Most everyday, utility objects that were once made by local, craft processes are now industrially manufactured. In his essay “Sparks from a Plastic Anvil” design critic Reyner Banham asks “where did all the craftsmen from industry go?” and concludes that some of them are still there – they are the ones that fix the industrial production line when it goes wrong.
The aim of this proposal is to develop an ethical, actionable and viable platform for a new relationship between vernacular craft and global industry. I view the relationship as a powerful liberator of material language – provoking craft makers to utilise their expert knowledge within the industrial model, working together to uncover new market possibilities and disrupt the monotony of global uniformity.
