Craft Reader

Glenn Adamson is Deputy Head of Research and Head of Graduate Studies at the Victoria and Albert Museum. He is author of Thinking Through Craft and co-editor of the Journal of Modern Craft

The scope of the Craft Reader is breathtaking. Finally, here is a text that successfully contextualizes the diverse range of writings on craft. By gathering these thoughts into a clearly articulated set of arguments Adamson has helped to shape the field of craft discourse. This book will stand as an invaluable tool for craft scholars.

• AcknowledgementsNote on the TextsIntroductionSECTION 1: HOW TOSection Introduction1. ‘Introductory Remarks’, from The Teacher’s Handbook of Slöjd, Otto Salomon 2. Elements of Handicraft and Design, W. A. S. Benson3. The Wheelwright's Shop, George Sturt4. On Weaving, Anni Albers5. Primitive Pottery, Hal RieggerSECTION 2: CRAFT AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONSection Introduction6. On the Economy of Machines and Manufactures, Charles Babbage7. Artisans and Machinery, Peter Gaskell8. ‘How an Aristocracy May Emerge from Industry’, from Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville9. Industrial Biography: Iron Workers and Tool Makers, Samuel Smiles10. Capital, Karl Marx11. ‘The Primary Effects of Scientific Management’, from Labor and Monopoly Capitalism, Harry Braverman12. The Workshop of the World: Steam Power and Hand Technology in Mid-Victorian Britain, Raphael Samuel13. Technological Innovation and Design Economics in Furniture Manufacture, Michael Ettema14. Artistic America, Siegfried Bing15. In the Cause of Architecture: The Architect and the Machine, Frank Lloyd Wright16. Art and the Machine, Hermann Muthesius17. Building Materials, Adolf Loos18. Handwerk/Kunsthandwerk, Stefan MuthesiusSECTION 3: MODERN CRAFT: IDEALISM AND REFORMSection Introduction19. ‘The Nature of the Gothic’, from The Stones of Venice, John Ruskin20. The Revival of Handicraft, William Morris21. Art and Labor, Ellen Gates Starr22. Art and Workmanship, W. R. Lethaby23. ‘Slogans’, ‘The Work Ahead of Us’ and ‘The Problem of the Relationship Between Man and Object’, Vladimir Tatlin24. ‘The Way of Craftsmanship’, from The Unknown Craftsman: A Japenese Insight into Beauty, Sôetsu Yanagi25. A Potter's Book, Bernard Leach26. Initiation and the Crafts, René Guénon27. Indian Handicrafts, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay28. ‘The Relation of the Past to the Demands of the Present’, World Crafts Conference proceedings (1964)29. Centering, M. C. Richards30. Introduction to Craftsman Lifestyle: The Gentle Revolution, Eudorah Moore31. The Soul of a Tree, George Nakashima32. The Long Shadow of William Morris: Paradigmatic Problems of Twentieth-Century American Furniture, Edward S. Cooke, Jr.SECTION 4: THE PRESENCE OF CRAFT IN THE AGE OF MASS PRODUCTIONSection introduction33. The Shoemaker of Dreams, Salvatore Ferragamo34. Crafting Grand Cru Chocolates in Contemporary France, Susan J. Terrio35. From Peasant to Artisan: Motor Mechanics in a Nigerian Town, Sara Berry36. Destiny World: Textile Casualties in Southern Nigeria, David T. Doris37. On a Particular Kind of Love and the Specificity of Soviet Production, Sergei Alasheev38. Original Copies, Philip Tinari39. What is Cybernetics?’, from The Human Use of Humans, Norbert Wiener40. Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Digital Hand, Malcolm McCullough41. ‘Digital Artisans Manifesto’, European Digital Artists Network, Richard Barbrook and Pit Schultz 42. Craft Versus Design: Moving Beyond a Tired Dichotomy, Rafael CardosoSECTION 5: CRAFT IN THEORY: AESTHETICS, ESSENCE, STATUSSection Introduction43. The Nature and Art of Workmanship, David Pye44. ‘The Genesis of the Technical Object: The Process of Concretization’, from Du Mode d’Existence des Objets Techniques, Gilbert Simondon45. ‘Forms in the Realms of Matter’ from The Life of Forms in Art, Henri Focillon46. Rhythm, Elsie Fogerty47. The Mande Blacksmiths: Knowledge, Power and Art in West Africa, Patrick R. McNaughton48. African Art: Where the Hand Has Ears, Amadou Hâmpaté Bâ49. Walter Benjamin: Traces of Craft, Esther Leslie50. Functionalism Today, Theodor Adorno51. The Thing, Martin Heidegger52. Rappel a l'Ordre: The Case for the Tectonic, Kenneth Frampton53. ‘Art and Craft’, from The Principles of Art, R. G. Collingwood54. Art and Work, Harold Rosenberg55. ‘Comment’ and Responses, John Bentley Mays56. Curatorial Comment from The Maker's Eye, Alison Britton57. How Envy Killed the Crafts, Garth ClarkSECTION 6: CRAFT IN ACTION: LIFE, ART, DESIGNSection introduction58. The Enchantment of Technology and the Technology of Enchantment, Alfred Gell59. Making Something from Nothing (Toward a Definition of Women's 'Hobby Art'), Lucy Lippard60. ‘The Creation of Femininity’, from The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine, Rozsika Parker61. There's No Place Like Home: Home Dressmaking and Creativity in the Jamaican Community of the 1940s to the 1960s, Carole Tulloch62. House-Trained Objects: Notes Towards Writing an Alternative History of Modern Art, Tanya Harrod63. The New Ceramic Presence, Rose Slivka 64. How I Spent My Summer Vacation or, Art and Politics in Nevada, Berkeley, San Francisco and Utah, Philip Leider65. Some Notes on the Phenomenology of Making: The Search for the Motivated, Robert Morris66. The Art of the Encounter, Lee Ufan67. Let the Artisans Craft Our Future, Grayson Perry68. ‘Manifesto of the Bauhaus’ and ‘Education and the Bauhaus’, Walter Gropius and László Moholy-Nagy69. Shaping America’s Products, Don Wallance70. Asilomar Conference Proceedings 1957, Marguerite Wildenhain and Charles Eames71. ‘The New Handicrafts’, from Hot House, Andrea BranziSECTION 7: CURATORIAL APPROACHESSection Introduction72. Affectivity and Entropy: Production Aesthetics in Contemporary Sculpture, Johanna Drucker73. ‘Craftsmen in the Factory of Images’, from BoysCraft, Tami Katz-Frieberg74. And What is Your Title? Zandra Ahl75. Craft Hard, Die Free: Radical Curatorial Strategies for Craftivism in Unruly Contexts, Anthea Black and Nicole Burisch76. The Politics of Craft: A Roundtable, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Liz Collins, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Cat Mazza and Allison SmithRecommended BibliographyList of Illustrations Index