Re-­positioning traditional craft: knowledge affect and social identity

In this paper I will examine what can be understood as “relational craft” not only in terms of its social function but as a mode of preserving, extending and transmitting knowledge that would otherwise be lost. Here I am referring to a more profound conception of knowledge: tacit knowledge and skill derived from making and using craft objects that cannot be fully conveyed in through language and therefore escapes documentation. This unspoken knowledge constitutes inter-subjective knowing and affective relations that are deeply connected to places of dwelling and the material realities from which they emerge.