Ideas of the Handmade: Histories and Theories of Making

FREE EVENT :: Friday, 20 April 2012

Contact Dr Catharine Rossi to book your place* - c.rossi@ed.ac.uk

Edinburgh College of Art/University of Edinburgh
Hunter Lecture Theatre (O17), Hunter Place,
Lauriston Building, Laurison Place, Edinburgh, EH3 9DF

Conveners: Dr Catharine Rossi and Dr Juliette MacDonald,
Edinburgh College of Art/University of Edinburgh

Ideas of the Handmade: Histories and Theories of Making is a one-day seminar devoted to craft. It will bring together a variety of craft-related research and researchers in order to investigate and champion the importance of craft, an area largely marginalised in design history and yet vital to contemporary and historical design culture in terms of practice, production and consumption.

The symposium builds on the recent surge of interest in craft amongst academics, practitioners and the public alike. There is an appetite not just for consuming and producing craft, but also for critical ways of thinking about the handmade. The variety of subjects and arguments at the seminar showcases research by established and emerging voices in thinking about the handmade, whose research moves encompasses both the identification of craft as a set of material-based disciplines as an expanded view of craft as a multiple, shifting concept that exists in relation to art, design and architecture. The papers range from revisitations of historical figures and institutions such as Ernest Gimson and the Dovecot Studios to reflections on the role of craft today in the prototyping and innovation process. Together, the seminar combines historical and contemporary perspectives by both academics and practitioners from a variety of multidisciplinary approaches that will lead to further developments in craft-related design history.

Bringing together independent practitioners and academics based at a variety of institutions including Edinburgh College of Art, the University of St Andrews and the University of Dundee, Ideas of the Handmade will showcase and connect the rich variety of craft-related research being conducted in Scotland and will serve as a contribution to ECA's active research culture.

Programme of the day:

9:30 - 10:00 Registration

10:10 - 10:15 Welcome

10:15 - 10:45 Annette Carruthers (Senior Lecturer, School of Art History, University of St Andrews)
''I See More than Difference - I see Opposition': Gimson, Lethaby and the D.I.A'

10:45 - 11:15 Francesca Baseby (PhD Candidate, University of Edinburgh & Dovecot Studios)
'Fact or Fiction? The Creation of Dovecot Studios' identity after World War Two'

11:15 - 11:45 Andrea Peach (Lecturer in Contextual and Critical Studies, Gray's School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.)

11:45 - 12:00 Coffee Break

12:00 - 12:30 Katy West (Ceramic Designer)
'Authorship and the Modern Maker'

12:30 - 13:00 Ellie Herring (PhD Candidate, University of Edinburgh)
'Furnishing Windows: The Craft of Window Display'

13:00 - 14:00 Lunch (provided)

14:00 - 14:30 Dr Nuno Sacramento (Director of the Scottish Sculpture Workshop)
'The Lost Hand'

14:30 - 15:00 Dr Jessica Hemmings (Head of Context/Deputy Director of Research, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh)
'Smart Writing about Smart Textiles'

15:00 - 15:15 Coffee Break

15:15 - 15:45 Dr. Louise Valentine (Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design)
'Craft and the Innovation Agenda'

15:45 - 16:15 Arno Verhoeven (Lecturer, Product Design, Stage 1 Coordinator, School of Design, Edinburgh College of Art/University of Edinburgh)
'From Concept to Creation. Low-fidelity Prototyping and its Role in Designers' Sense-Making: a protocol analysis.'

16:30 Drinks Reception

Thanks to the generous support of the Design History Society and Edinburgh College of Art/University of Edinburgh, the the Day Seminar is open to all and is free to attend. 

*RSVP however is essential as places are limited. Please confirm your place by email to Dr Catharine Rossi (c.rossi@ed.ac.uk)