An Analysis of Contemporary Craft for Interaction Design

By:
Ms Sarah Tansley Kettley
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Much of the recent, and indeed historical discourse in the applied arts has been focused on the nature of craft as a process, and the modification of this process through the appropriation of new technologies. Little has been said, however, on the subject of the alternative values and experiences which craft may be able to contribute to the design of technological products. This paper presents an analysis of contemporary craft as a culturally important design resource for other creative disciplines, arrived at as a result of a program of practice based research, and a set of semi-structured interviews with contemporary jewellery practitioners. The reflexive application of this approach is illustrated through the design and implementation of a collection of wirelessly networked jewellery, combining craft with the materials of computation and social interaction.


Keywords: Contemporary Craft, Design, Interaction, Networks, Computational Materials, Jewellery, Wearable Computing, User Group, Friendship Group
Stream: Analysing Artforms
Presentation Type: Virtual Presentation in English
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Ms Sarah Tansley Kettley

Research student, Human-Computer Interaction Research Group, School of Computing, Napier University
Edinburgh, Midlothian, UK

Sarah Kettley gained her MSc from the School of Computing, Napier University, and is currently writing up her doctoral thesis on contemporary craft as a design process for experiential wearable computing. She graduated with a BA(Hons) from Glasgow School of Art in 1993 in Silversmithing and Jewellery, following which she combined self-employment as a designer with freelance work in arts organisations, festivals and galleries. Her recent work in conjunction with the Speckled Computing Consortium has also been supported by a residency at Edinburgh College of Art, and she is due to begin an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded fellowship in April 2006. Her research interests also include the redefinition of the user group for user centred design, performative notions in social interaction, and notions of authenticity in consumption.

Ref: A06P0377