“The Way We Build”: Craft, Innovation, and Sustainability in Japanese House-Carpentry

This article expands and complicates the literature on “craft” by examining the seeming anomaly of a craft community dominating a significant production sector within an advanced industrial economy, and despite the existence of cheaper high-tech and labor-saving alternatives. Japanese house-carpenters, organized into very small firms with very local markets, and producing “traditional” house-frames in small batches, have long held prefabrication and other alternatives at bay through a process of conservative innovation. The primary goal of their innovative process has been the protection and continuance of house-carpentry as a relevant and marketable skill, and of its practitioners as a self-sustaining community. This craft is not an exemplar of sustainability in other ways, however, despite its association with the traditional and organic. Its house-products have unnaturally short lives given Japanese methods of accounting for property value, and its raw material, foreign-sourced old-growth forests, are increasingly subject to global conservation efforts.

Exploring traditional thread-making and simple weaving used in OPP lamination film upcycling for ecologically responsible textile craft

Aiming for sustainable eco-friendly craft/design practice, this design research explored upcycling-practice of OPP plastic waste using traditional technology to create an alternative raw material for textile craft. By combining cultural investigation into the textile-making tradition with Cradle-to-Cradle design principles, we identified the potential of traditional technology as an ecologically responsible production process. We also developed upcycling method to process OPP plastic waste material. This research resulted in: (1) thread-making techniques that produce different sizes of thread as raw materials and hand-woven textile, (2) revitalized endangered indigenous technology of craft-making that had been a part of human-nature ecology, (3) eco-design education that can be accepted by local textile craft community, and (4) textile craft products that express the local identity and promote environmental care.

Socially engaged creative practices : a transdisciplinary study of Woza Moya

Woza Moya is an arts and craft community organisation which was officially established in 2002. It is one of two economic empowerment projects of the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust in KwaZulu-Natal which were initiated to form part of the Trust’s context-specific holistic health care approach. While Woza Moya sells a diverse range of products, it is well known for the Woza beadwork style. The Director of the project coined that term as a tribute to the custom of naming beadwork styles in the KwaZulu-Natal province. The present study investigates the socially engaged creative beadwork practices at Woza Moya. The study is framed by transdisciplinarity and presents eight vignettes that analyse the design and creation processes. The study is positioned in the interpretivist paradigm and draws upon transdisciplinary discourse from scholars such as Nicolescu (2010), McGregor (2015) as well as Ross and Mitchell (2018) and others. The study focuses on integration and collaboration, which are considered core characteristics of the transdisciplinary methodology (Morin 1999; Nicolescu 2010). Vignettes are promoted as a clear and rich way of deepening our understanding of collaborative, heterogeneous and complex design processes. The use of transdisciplinarity as a framework contributes to tracing both open and hidden activities which form part of the design process, and which embrace the transdisciplinary logic of inclusion and transformation, where creative designs form part of a holistic community care model. These vignettes are analysed according to themes. The themes which straddle the vignettes are: (1) interplay of beading, time and bodily pain, (2) creativity as contagious and viral, (3) men’s active role in beadmaking with women as mentors to men, (4) increased community action, (5) transformed and deepened understanding of others, (6) the ikhaya metaphor for the agora, zone of non-resistance and space of the included middle, and (7) building a home as progress and improvement. These themes combine to form a rich and descriptive rendering of the design and creation process. The central thesis presented in this study is that arts and craft community organisations such as Woza Moya are sites of strong and transformative transdisciplinarity (Ross and Mitchell 2018), which fits with McGregor’s (2015) call for transdisciplinary entrepreneurship.

Online matters: Future visions of digital making and materiality in hobby crafting

Over the past twenty years, hobby crafting has experienced a revival of interest, as people have started to seek new ways to engage with crafts as creative leisure in an increasingly digital world. Along the way, emerging, digital technologies have provided new tools and ways to engage in hobby crafting. Indeed, today’s hobby crafts are frequently concerned with material mediated via the internet and accomplished with the aid of software, which also affects our understanding of maker identities in online communities. This article argues that digitalization has not only revolutionized hobbyist craft making with new tools and technologies, but has also paved new ways for practising creative skills, which has had a significant impact on makers’ engagements with craft materials, objects and communities of practices. This is demonstrated through netnographic explorations on Facebook’s leisure craft community where digital material practices are increasingly prevalent in hobbyists’ everyday life. As a conclusion, the article speculates on visions of the future of hobby crafts and its relevance as a leisure pursuit.

PENANGGULANGAN ISU WIRAUSAHA DI INDONESIA DENGAN PEMBANGUNAN KOMUNITAS KRIYA JATINEGARA

Millennial Generation is the generation births from 1981-1994. This generation is known as a generation that is open-minded, like to challenge themselves, brave enough to take risks, determinded, and interested to try new things. There is a fact that says almost 70,9% of millennials are interested to start their own bussinesses. It is the reason of the term “millennial entrepreneur”. That means an entrepreneur that is born in millennial generation. They have the ability to create creative and innovative bussiness plan that is different from others. Altough the number of entrepreneurs in Indonesia increasing every year, this has not been recognized by the worid because the amount is only 1,65% of population compared to other countries (Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, China, USA, Thailand). Therefore, the author aims to increase the number of entrepreneurs by providing a place that can accommodate all of their activities. Not only providing learning activities, but also their physical activities, such as: eat, take a bath, exercise, and take a rest. This project, known as Jatinegara Craft Community, is located in Jatinegara, East Jakarta. The method of this study is cross-programming method. Vision of this project is to become a mixed-use building that can fulfill the needs of millennial entrepreneurs so that they can solve the issue of entrepreneurship in Indonesia and also the issue of sustainability. Meanwhile, the mission of this project is to create a place for the current millennial generation, especially for the young entrepreneurs in their study (formal and non-formal), work, social life and rest. AbstrakGenerasi Milenial adalah generasi yang lahir pada tahun 1981-1994. Generasi ini dikenal sebagai generasi yang open-minded, menyukai tantangan, berani mengambil resiko, memiliki pendirian yang kuat, dan tertarik untuk mencoba hal-hal baru. Ada fakta yang menyatakan bahwa sekitar 70,9% Generasi Milenial tertarik untuk membuka usaha sendiri, sehingga banyak muncul istilah millennial entrepreneur, dimana mereka adalah wirausaha yang lahir di Generasi Milenial. Mereka mampu untuk menciptakan ide bisnis yang kreatif dan inovatif, yang berbeda dari yang lain. Walaupun tingkat wirausaha di Indonesia makin meningkat tiap tahunnya, tetapi sepertinya millennial entrepreneur di Indonesia belum dianggap oleh dunia karena jumlahnya hanyalah 1,65% jika dibandingkan dengan negara lain (Singapura, Malaysia, Korea Selatan, Cina, Amerika Serikat, Thailand). Oleh karena itu, penulis bertujuan untuk meningkatkan jumlah wirausaha dengan memberikan wadah yang dapat menampung segala kegiatan mereka. Bukan hanya memberikan kegiatan pembelajaran, tetapi sampai ke kegiatan pokok mereka, antara lain; makan, mandi, olahraga, dan istirahat. Proyek ini, Komunitas Kriya Jatinegara, berlokasi di Jatinegara, Jakarta Timur. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode cross-programming. Visi dari proyek ini adalah untuk menjadi bangunan multi-fungsi yang dapat memenuhi kebutuhan millennial entrepreneur. Selain itu, diharapkan proyek ini juga dapat menjawab isu kurangnya wirausaha di Indonesia dan isu sustainability. Sementara itu misi dari proyek ini adalah untuk menciptakan ruang yang dibutuhkan oleh Generasi Milenial sekarang ini, khususnya untuk wirausaha muda dalam mereka belajar (formal dan non-formal), bekerja, bersosialisasi, dan beristirahat.

BATIK GEBLEK RENTENG KULON PROGO :

Intellectual Property Rights is a wealth of all the products of the production of intelligence, such as technology, knowledge, art, literature, compositions of songs, written works, caricatures, etc. that are useful for humans. IPR management can have both positive and negative consequences. Therefore, researchers will see the results of community empowerment strategies through the management of intellectual property rights for local batik products together in Kulon Progo. Informants used qualitative research with informants using snowballs. Data collection techniques are done using observation, interviews and documentation. Interviews were conducted with Bappeda and the Kulon Progo Regency industry, trade and ESDM department and the batik craft community in Kulon Progo. The Geblek renteng batik motif is a typical batik motif from Kulon Progo. Secondly, only the Kulon Progo community is permitted to produce joint-style geblek batik motifs. Third, there may not be artisans using batik stamps or printing in the making of geblek renteng batik motifs, fourth, providing training and capital assistance for batik craftsmen in the Kulon Progo region.

Empowerment Management Model of Batik Craftsman Entrepreneurship Development

The Batik is a craft community that has been the identity, uniqueness, and culture riches that needs to be preserved. The study aims to create empowerment management model of batik craftsmen entrepreneurship development. The study and analysis used Research and Development methods. Data is collected through observation, deep interview, and documentation. The informant has been decided by purposive sampling, namely batik craftsmen, high school student as a generation of batik and batik observers. The research location in Susukan, Banjarneara district of Central Java Province at Indonesia. The results showed that (1) The lack of young generation of batik craftsmen, thus it requires development management through community empowerment of younger generation to preserve local cultural riches. (3) The empowerment management could be designed comprehensively and continuously by involving all parties namely the community, government, universities and private parties.

Collaborations and Design Development of Local Craft Products: Service Design for Creative Craft Community

Local craft product is one of the key elements in expressing different identities of local culture in different countries. Local craft communities in Thailand have quite unique skills in producing different craft using local materials and techniques. However, the craft production is later facing the problem of missing their own identity. The products are also unable fit to the demand of international market. This research is a result of the co-creation project on developing local craft products which is a part of the research on a service design for creative craft community: A case study of Phanusnikom district, Chonburi province, Thailand. The benefits of this study will stimulate the development and preservation of local craft products and communities in a more sustainable way. This study aims to explore the possible methods of how designers, local craftsmen, academic institutions and local business clusters can collaborate and raise new opportunities for the communities to become a creative craft space. The study has concentrated on a case study of Phanusnikom District, Chonburi Province, Thailand where most of the people are creating wickerwork from bamboo. The data collected within the research come from ethnographic fieldwork, which consists of basic methods such as site visits and interviews. The research also includes the concept of Service design thinking and tools, which can help to analyze the data into different sets of relationship between service users, service providers, and environment. Groups of product design students, local craftsmen, local business clusters, professional designers, and artists are co – creating new craft products. The results express throughout the process which emphasize on presenting the ability of local craftsmen beyond what they are expected; exchanging knowledge; creating a more comfortable collaboration between the stakeholders; and strengthen the local craft community for more future sustainable developments.