Crafts in the Yangtze River Delta, China: Designing a Renewed Ecology for Sustainability

Overview

Craft has long been regarded as being out of step with contemporary production and society. However, there is renewed interest in craft practices worldwide. In China, craftsmanship has recently been identified as a vital ingredient for the nation’s manufacturing development. Although craft has an inherent relationship with sustainability, this relationship has yet to be explored systemically. Aiming to understand craft as a field of making and as an agent for triggering transformative change, this study explores the relationships between craft, sustainability, and design. The main study site is the Yangtze River Delta in China, and this research aims to (1) determine the relationship between craft and sustainability and its theoretic underpinnings; and (2) explore the potential for design to contribute to craft in order to nurture sustainable transformation.

Keywords:

• craft
• sustainability
• design intervention
• ecology
• Yangtze River Delta

Acknowledgements

With thanks to my supervisor Professor Stuart Walker and the Design Ecologies project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Notes

1. This finding has been developed into a paper that has been accepted by the 7th IASDR conference in Cincinnati.

2. This finding is part of a paper presented at the 12th EAD conference in Rome.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Xiaofang Zhan

Xiaofang Zhan is a PhD candidate at ImaginationLancaster Design Research Centre. Prior to this she was a lecturer in product design at Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai. Her research focuses on design intervention in the craft practices. She is interested in product design that relates to human values and cultures, philosophy of making, and design for sustainability.