Richard Sennet and The Craftsman: The debate continues…

Earlier in the week I posted on a book I had recently read by Richard Sennett, The Craftsman.  In particular, I focussed on Sennett’s position that use of technology could, in many ways be viewed as leading to fundamental impairment to the development of skill.

I wanted to return to this because I have received some incredibly interesting feedback from people from a variety of disciplines.  And I’m  interested in seeing where else the debate may ultimately lead.

To utilize CAD to its full advantage requires competence.  That was never under dispute.  But the issue under discussion was whether or not the use of CAD impacted on  craftsmanship and whether or not the distance placed between designing products using  this technology deprived us of the repetition and the experience required to actually physically produce ourselves.

As with many things, CAD technologies are tools that can be used well or badly.  But CAD,  as posited by Sennett, is a design tool, and he casts doubt as to whether or not, when something is successfully created via Computer Aided Design, the creator is fully aware of how this outcome is achieved. Because of the head and hand disconnect. And a reliance on technology to bridge that gap.

What it is to be a maker, as opposed to being a designer is an issue that myself and many of my colleagues face, particularly at this stage in our academic career when we are encouraged to focus on where we want to position ourselves within industry.  As several have commented , you can spend hours honing your designs on a computer – equally as long, if not longer than you would spend in the studio physically making an object.  Is that not craft?  Is not the process of designing, essentially making?

Some people have contacted me to say that they view CAD as a different way of working that compliments existing skills and allows for objects to be created which could simply not be made by hand.  But this still does not address the issue with regards to having a fully developed understanding of the materials that you are working with: something which comes from physical experience of creating with your medium.

If you consider yourself a designer rather than a maker, to really push the design process requires an intimate understanding of your materials, something which you are distanced from by using CAD.

Whilst you may be creating with technology, you are still physically distanced from the  final object.

Once again, I’m very interested on hearing from you so please join the debate!

Richard Sennet and The Craftsman

So, as you might have gathered, this Design and the Market module I’m doing at uni has had me thinking about my future rather a lot.

I’d had Richard Sennett’s book, The Craftsman, languishing on my bookshelf for quite some time and thought now was probably as good a time as any to read it.

Sennett is exploring the idea of craftsmanship, of doing something well for its own sake, as a template for living.  He argues that pure competition will never produce good work.

As a student, studying  jewellery and metal design, of course this is going to be of interest (which is why I bought the book in the first place, with all those good intentions, quite some time ago…).  Because the making part of making seems to be becoming increasingly redundant.

You don’t need to set stones yourself, you can send them away and someone else will do it for you.  You don’t need to cast things yourself – you can just send away a mould.  CAD (Computer Assisted Design) is another interesting one…

Sennett questions what has happened to the idea of craftsmanship in the 21st Century.  We live in a culture that is driven by mass production where everything is manufactured by machines rather than crafted by human hands.  We employ this method of making to speed up production, , keep costs down but ultimately, what we sacrifice is an understanding of the materials we are trying to work with.  There’s a fundamental disconnect.

CAD allows the instant modelling of products and allows the designer to see the object from multiple points of view.  The on-screen rendering can be lengthened, shrunk or broken into parts.  Sections can be copied and replicated into a variety of different designs within minutes.   And then your PDF can be emailed to a company who will… cast your design for you.

When you draw and physically make something, it’s a process of constant refinement.  Of repetition and practice.  But this process is removed by CAD.  Once points are plotted on-screen, algorithms do the drawing.  Used properly, it can be flawless in its accuracy.

The act of drawing and physically making pieces, even if they are just samples, also makes you consider colour, texture, materials and how they can be worn – other elements that are lost using CAD.

There seems to be a conflict between getting something right and getting something done, quality based on correctness and quality based on practical experience. Skill is a trained practice, and in many ways, modern technology deprives us of the repetition required to develop skill. And when the head and the hand are separated, there is going to a fundamental impairment of the development of skill.

I’d be interested to hear your views on this.

Beware the Wolpertinger…

I’m  not long back from my trip to Munich (more to follow on this, honest).  As well as copious amount of beer and cheese-based dinners, my friends and I stumbled across the Deutsches Jagd und Fischermuseum (the German hunting and fishing museum).  Which had a rather fine collection of taxidermy.  

As well as a dedicated exhibit to the legend of the Wolpertinger.  Which filled me with joy, of course.  

The Wolpertinger is a fantasy creature from Bavarian folklore. Said to inhabit the alpine forests, this curious beastie is made up of parts of different native animals and generally has wings, antlers, tails and fangs.  

The exhibit made me almost delirious with joy… particularly the one with a rabbit getting intimate with a chicken… I’m trying to research the origins of the legend and find out more about the Wolpertinger… but he seems to be an elusive beast…

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Inhorgenta 2012

Now then, I might be a little bit quiet for a few days… because today I’m off to Inhorgenta!

It’s the international leading trade fair for jewellery, watches, gemstones, design, technology, and everything else! And with more than 1,100 exhibitors from 38 countries, I suspect I’ll be kept out of trouble for a little while…

You can find a link to the Inhorgenta programme (please read that as the link to all the things I’ll be bankrupting myself with…) here.

No doubt a blog, and of course, the entire contents of my camera will be circulated when I’m back in the UK.

Try not to miss me too much…

The jewellery of Joji Kojima.

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Post my rather lovely encounter with Patrick Ian Hartley, I was doing some research when I came across the work of Joji Kojima.

Like Patrick, Joji also has Lady Gaga for a client, and has an interestingly Baroque, if high-fashion feel to his work.

Enjoy!

 

Portfolio working: being creative in the 21st Century marketplace

You might have noticed from recent blog posts that I have been giving a lot of thought to my future, about what’s going to happen to me after I graduate.

I’ve been to a series of lectures by Mike Press about creative futures.   He believes that the future belongs to the T-shaped practitioner, by which specialist knowledge skills are balanced by cross-disciplinary inter-personal skills.  In the past, feedback from employers has been that those with design degrees have often lacked the skills for effective collaborative working, and this is something which in now starting to change with regard to how higher-education design degrees are taught.

Recent research by The Institute for Employment Studies (IES)  research has shown the predominance of portfolio working (having numerous different means of employment running concurrently) in graduates from art and design.

The emphasis on portfolio working gave me pause for thought, because this is something I have been doing for many years, well before my return to university as (in theory) a grown up.

At one point, shortly before I started at DJCAD,  I was a project manager in the NHS, working weekends in The Little Bead Shop which will, by the end of the month, be the Art Clay Scotland Jewellery Studio (more on this to follow soon), I was doing freelance copywriting, selling creative writing pieces on the side and making and selling jewellery.

I have two degrees already (an M.A Historical English Language and an M.Phil (Research) Historical English Language), a background in performing arts, I’ve been a pianist, a singer, a copywriter in an advertising agency, a regulator for a regulatory authority, a string of project management jobs… to be honest more varied and diverse jobs than I care to remember (because it shows my age more than anything else) but there has never been a point in my life that I can remember, when I’ve just had one job. Ever.

It makes for an interesting and varied CV, to be sure.  But that, in itself, is not without its problems too.  Any of you who have ever gone via recruitment agencies for work will have had this experience: they only ever look at the first two things on your CV. And if your CV is in chronological order and your last two jobs were bar work and the third was the Director of an agency, odds are fairly high that all you will get offered are customer service positions. So you need to get creative with your CV. Make sure that what you want to get seen first, is what gets seen first.

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that we are living in a time with no set employment progression – getting one type of job does not dictate your progression to a similar position at a higher rate of pay, or even to a similar type of job should you decide to leave.   This is true, it has been established.  However… it does not change the initial reaction of employers/recruitment agencies et al when they see a varied CV.  And I suspect that this is an attitude that will not change in a long while, because when it comes to employment, certain things have been done in a very uniform way for a long time, and those kinds of habits are hard to break.

I have many and various CVs, and yes, I do tailor applications individually to every job.  The trick is to always be prepared.  Look at your many and various jobs and pull out the shared skills required between them.  Make a separate section and spell it out.  Because ultimately, to progress in this climate, you need to brand and market your biggest product with confidence  – you.

 

 

 

 

Femke Hiemstra

I came across the work of Femke Hiemstra today and thought I’d share.  Enjoy!

Dylan Sisson is my new happy place

It’s true, he is.

Dylan says of his work: “My favorite subjects are those that mix contrasting themes, like a character that’s on the verge of being cute or being frightening at the same time. . . I like creating that tension. For example, what’s the difference between a pet and a monster? A pet licks you. A monster eats you.”

How can that not  put a smile on your face?

 

You can find out more about Dylan and his work on his website.

Craft Scotland and the “c” word…

 

I feel like I’ve been on a bit of a roll this week.  I attended a lecture by and got to meet the rather fantastic Patrick Ian Hartley (and yes, I’m still grinning about that), I’ve gotten my head down and have been spending a lot of time making in the studio (pics will follow soon, I swear ) and, just when I thought things couldn’t get much better, I attended a lecture by Emma Walker, the CEO of Craft Scotland, who was visiting DJCAD to lecture on audience development.

It was a really exciting presentation, again emphasizing the need for us, as new designers, to make the most of the opportunities available to us, and where there appear to be none, to create them.

Emma Walker really is an inspiration.  She was the UK’s youngest ever CEO at age 27 (a mere four years ago, I might add) and has completely redefined the connotations of craft in the UK.

When Emma started in her new role, she realized that there were a lot of negative connotations around “craft”.

It’s true. People either don’t understand what craft is (or indeed what Craft Scotland was) or had negative associations with the term.  Many have no idea of the talented artists out there or of the vibrant, inspirational Scottish craft scene.  Instead of getting a totally unique piece, meticulously handcrafted by a local artisan, the first port of call for many is the chain store, the mass-produced. For some this is a consciously chosen buying behaviour, for others it’s the result of a lack of awareness of what is actually out there.

To quote Emma, “craft, contrary to popular belief or the tired and lacklustre marketing campaigns that so often surround it, is one of the most urgent of art forms. It demands attention – and from now on it’s going to get it. We want to inject confidence into the sector, raise the profile of makers and their craft, and encourage the potential buyers to become craft supporters.

The contemporary craft sector has many faces – affordable and aspirational, functional and curatorial, a weekend shopping spree or an investment piece. However one thing remains the same – The C Word is most definitely craft.”

For more information about Craft Scotland and their inspirational work, please visit their website.

Making design work: new challenges

 

I’m due to graduate next year with a Bachelors in Design.  And the ever looming question is… what will I do next? What opportunities are waiting for me? Or will I just starve to death?

It’s true, in the current financial climate, being a 30 something with a whopping great mortgage, an arts degree and cats to feed is no laughing matter.  That and I’d given up a very stable job to go study jewellery and metal design for three years also means that my CV has taken on some rather interesting dimensions.

When I was younger, I always felt that I was tricked.  I was still at school at the time people were clinging to the illusion that a degree equated to a job.  Jobs for life still existed (although they were on the decline), but the key was still that that mythical piece of paper from a university would set you up for life.

It wasn’t true then, and it most certainly isn’t true now.

A lecture I attended earlier in the week pretty much said the same thing – how can we prepare design graduates for the working world when we have absolutely no idea what that world will be like in five years time?

Sir Ken Robinson has a very interesting take on this: Sir Ken Robinson – the importance of creativity in education.

In days of yore (read this as, “when Deanne was young”) education stopped at youth, but now, education goes out of date (just think about keeping your IT knowledge and skills up to date and you’ll understand what I mean…) so we need to constantly and continuously educate ourselves in order to flourish.

Ten years ago Facebook didn’t exist.  Ten years before that, the internet didn’t exist.  The top ten jobs that will be in demand in 2014 didn’t exist in 2004, and universities are constantly trying to prepare students for jobs which don’t yet exist…

On one hand it’s rather bleak, on the other, tremendously exciting. Now, more than ever, we are getting the opportunity to carve our own career paths – if the jobs don’t exist, we have to make them.  We have to make the most of the opportunities we have.