Old and New Approaches
Designing with Artisans: Leveraging the Ancestral Intelligence of Woven Handcraft
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tania Ursomarzo
This paper examines the relationship between designer and artisan, and the benefit of collaboration to leverage the intersections between ancestral craft and contemporary design. Furthermore, it argues that collaboration between designers and craftspeople is essential in its reciprocal advancement of craft and design. There is artistry, skill, and fundamental wisdom embedded in weaving. However, craft has suffered from a lack of innovation and thus, the perception of irrelevance. The value of traditional handcrafts as a unique and environmentally responsible form of making continues to be reduced to decorative objects rather than exploring its potential as a design and architectural material methodology. The research argues that sustainable design and making is embedded in ancestral technologies abandoned, ignored, and forgotten, rather than evolved and adapted to study an environmentally and culturally sensitive, contextually specific, new architectural vernacular. The paper proposes that the artisan can be reintegrated into design and construction practices through advancing and applying weaving techniques. Using a series of material experiments with an indigenous freehand weaver from Upper Egypt, the project explores the application of basket weaving techniques to architectural design. Through documented experiential, auto-ethnographical research and creative production, the project investigates the use of design as a tool to elevate craft in a way that builds on the knowledge of the artisan. As such, the paper analyses the potential of material collaborations between designers and artisans to reimagine the ways in which we live and create, making woven handcraft relevant to contemporary design, culture, and technology.
Upgrading the Thong Som Jackfruit Model Community Enterprise to be a Model of Learning Resoures View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Miyoung Seo, Kriangsak Khiaomang
The research aims to develop a learning resource for the comprehensive Thong Som Jackfruit by Design Thinking Process and to suggest potential products using agricultural waste such as branches, stems, leaves, and seeds, especially the Jackfruit tree. The research was analyzed and summarized using focus group discussions with esteemed scholars, experts, and community members to inform the research process. The Thong Som Jackfruit variety was the project's concentration, proving a comprehensive learning center for Thong Som Jackfruit is remarkable in the research. An organizational identity and manual have created for use in Thong Som Jackfruit products. As a result, it has been developed a practical prototype database for products made from jackfruit wood dye, the dyed material and waste could be suggested for fashion items, various lifestyle products. In addition, jackfruit seeds were also capable of baking ingredient to make various bakery products. Moreover, the pruned jackfruit branches could be decorated with smokeless charcoal from jackfruit branches. Through these prototypes and processes, the research team has developed innovative products and organized knowledge transfer activities within the community. The researcher has led to significant knowledge exchange and the promotion of sustainable self-reliance, establishing the broader benefits.
