‘Sustainability’ certainly seems the word of the 21st century. But it is not unprecedented. As the papers in the latest issue of Craft & Design Enquiry show, there are strong connections with the response to industrialisation by Arts & Crafts Movement in 19th century England. Reviewing this history may provide an important guide to the future.
Craft Australia announces the publication of the third issue of craft + design enquiry, its open access, peer-reviewed online journal interrogating discourses surrounding craft and design practice. See http://www.craftaustralia.org.au/cde
Sustainability in craft and design explores the role of craft and design in social change responding to the challenge of global warming.
It features articles:
Towards a post-consumer subjectivity: a future for the crafts in the twenty first century? by Peter Hughes
Ideological constructs – past visions/future possibilities: evaluating the endangered subjects in the context of emerging global sustainability and environmental agendas by Mary Loveday Edwards
Theorising a transformative agenda for craft by Matthew Kiem
Ecology and the aesthetics of imperfect balance by Roderick Bamford
Craft and sustainable development: reflections on Scottish craft and pathways to sustainability by Emilia Ferraro, Rehema White, Eoin Cox, Jan Bebbington and Sandra Wilson
Sustaining crafts and livelihoods: handmade in India by Sharmila Wood
Is craft a substantial enough ‘industry’ to warrant concern about its environmental impact?
Does craft have an important role to play in changing the temporary nature of consumption, particularly reintroducing an ethic of repair?
Is there any place for the aesthetic quest to made marvellous and beautiful things in the discourse of sustainability?
To what extent are there parallels between the concern for sustainability in the 21st century and the impact of industrialisation in Victorian England?
