The Death of Industrial Design Tom Becker
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In The Beginning
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An Age Old Problem William Morris and the Revival of Handicraft David Pye and the Nature and Art of Workmanship Greyson Perry lets the Artisans Craft our Future
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A New Solution Supply Make Sell Know Fund
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Investigating Making What do people make? Do they enjoy making? Why do they make? Maker Space research
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What Is Next
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I set out in my exploration project to discover: How I can encourage more people to make, by hand, for themselves? The idea was that this could help to break the consumption model of fast fashion and throw-away objects. What I discovered was that at first I had been a little naive. The people that want to make, do; they always have. More than that, I discovered that it is now easy for anyone to make; either for their personal pleasure or to sell.
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An age old problem
THE REVIVAL OF HANDICRAFT William Morris
The market assumes that certain wares are wanted; it produces such wares, indeed, but their kind and quantity are only adapted to the needs of the public in a very rough fashion, because the public needs,are subordinated to the interest of the capitalist masters of the market, and they can force the public to put up with the less desirable
An age old problem
“For to begin with the general public is grossly ignorant of all the methods and processes of manufacture. This is of course one result of the machine-system we are considering. Almost all goods are made apart from the life of those who use them; we are not responsible for them, our will has no part in their production, except so far as we form part of the market on which they can be forced for the profit of the capitalist. whose money is employed in producing them.
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article if they choose, as they generally do. The result is that this direction our boasted individuality is a sham; and persons who wish for anything that deviates ever so little from the beaten path have either to wear away their lives in a wearisome and mostly futile contest with the stupendous organisation which disregards their wishes, or to allow those wishes to be crushed out for the sake of a quiet life.” “For most people, therefore, there is a prohibitive price put upon the acquirement or the knowledge of methods and processes. We do not know how a piece of goods is made, what the difficulties are theta beset its manufacture, what it ought to look like, feel like, smell like or what it ought to cost apart from the profit of the middleman.”
William Morris was concerned about the impact that machines and mass manufacture would have on society.
‘…production by machinery necessarily results in utilitarian ugliness’
To Morris, style had adapted to suit the manufacturing process instead of the manufacturing process suiting the design of the piece. He worried that beauty would be lost in exchange for ease of manufacture.
An age old problem
His piece The Revival of Handicraft which was published in The Fortnightly Review outlined his fundamental principle:
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His reaction within his work was to take inspiration from nature. His work was organic, fluid and often depicted intricate plants or animals. It was incredibly finely detailed; designed to demonstrate the skill and merit of the hand-made.
Many see William Morris’ utopian dream as unrealistic and idealistic; of course it is. However he did identify a problem with mass manufacture which, as time has gone on has only proved to be correct.
An age old problem
Morris felt that the antidote to this sickness in society was for the re-establishment of the guild system of old. He believed that the unity of political and aesthetic reform would provide a more beautiful, a fundamentally happier and more productive society.
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The machines that Morris hated so dearly were not as awful as he would have us believe. In fact, as people flocked to cities, following the machines and the jobs; life expectancy increased dramatically.
Although the economies of scale that the machines provided forced traditional craftsmen out of work; they also made goods much more affordable and therefore helped create a new, upwardly mobile social class. But as life expectancy and population rose, production became more focused and intense, variety began to fade.
An age old problem
Cities were much cleaner and healthier than the countryside, they had clean water, hospitals and sewerage.
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THE NATURE AND ART OF WORKMANSHIP
David Pye David Pye is perhaps the most widely read twentieth century craft theorist. He was from 1948-1974 a professor of furniture at the Royal College of Art in London. He was a fiercely logical and rigorous thinker and is one of the few supporters of craft who discusses it in an unsentimental, objective manner.
He trained as an architect specialising in wooden buildings. But ‘After the war,’ he told Crafts magazine in 1976, ‘there wasn’t going to be any wood for building for a long time, so I thought I’d stick to wood, and ditch buildings.’ Sticking to wood meant designing furniture for industrial production, and carving; especially, large carved bowls and small turned boxes. It also meant blacksmithing - forging tools not easily available otherwise - and by 1950 Pye had built the ‘fluting engine’ with which he cut the smooth, rhythmic flutes on the inner surface of his bowls. In the Seventies, it was joined by a smaller machine to engrave patterns on the lids of boxes.
An age old problem
Although he rarely wrote about his beliefs, he did allow one modest hint of his personal thought process to enter his written work, remarking that the diversity that occurs as a result of the workmanship of risk is itself inherently pleasing and that we should be wary of the lack of variety that mass manufacture promotes.
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These machines, in a way embody the concerns of Pye’s writings and of his craft work. Their purpose is to bring diversity to the object, changing and enlivening the quality of its surface; offering the eye something to focus on in scale between the object’s large form and the minute texture of the wood itself. In The Nature and Art of Workmanship David Pye offers the best definition of craft that I’ve come across. He pointed out that the definition of craft does not exist in the tools used to make (as with most other definitions), but rather in the process of making itself:
To me, this idea of risk is intriguing. Many of the people I have spoken to find making by hand inexplicably satisfying and deeply enjoyable, much more than making by machine (or the workmanship of certainty). Perhaps it’s the excitement of the danger that the piece is in which makes it so attractive?
An age old problem
‘If I must ascribe a meaning to the word craftsmanship…it means simply any kind of technique or apparatus, in which the quality of the result is not predetermined, but depends on judgment, dexterity and care which the maker exercises as he works. The essential idea is that the quality of the result is continually at risk during the process of making; and so I shall call this kind of workmanship the workmanship of risk: an uncouth phrase, but at least descriptive.’
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As workshops across the country stopped ringing with the blows of hammer on hot steel and the heavy thud as a mallet strikes a chisel; craft died.
The machines gave people more free time, which the aptly spent on hobbies, many of which revolved around making.
An age old problem
Or so you would have thought, instead craft took up a new role. People didn’t stop making, they still created; and not just in the artisans workshops producing beautiful furniture, people began to make at home.
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LET THE ARTISANS CRAFT OUR FUTURE
Grayson Perry
Craft, I feel, to people outside the exquisitely constructed ring fence of the Craft Council has become a hobby. It is a leisure activity practiced by exhibitors at craft fairs who fashion novelty covers for vacuum cleaners and children who are bought bead jewellery kits by well-meaning aunts who think they watch too much television. Craft has become an over-blown Blue Peter project. Craft is becoming a zoo-bred animal that could not survive in the wild of the market place Craftsmanship is no longer central in the bodgedtogether service economy. Craft used to be integral to many walks of life. Guilds of apprentices would parade through the streets with special examples of their work held proudly aloft. Quilts were prized family heirlooms hand-stitched by cabals of women. Even as recently as the 1950s Teddy
An age old problem
“I fear it has become the domain of ladies in dangly earrings.
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Boys got kitted out for their subculture by their local bespoke tailors. To be a craftsman was to be working-class nobility.” “I think that there needs to be a place for the commissioned one-off handmade object in our future because, as we know, the future has to be green.”
And don’t tell me that this will be affordable only by the super rich. The spendaholic middle classes could use their ever-increasing buying power to commission three bespoke items a year instead of 30 throwaway fads. Maybe we would think about how things would look when they get worn and old and factor that into the design. Maybe we will buy a suit for the decade and a table for life.
An age old problem
“Maybe in the future the distinctiveness that consumerism promises will be concentrated not on choice but by customisation. Maybe ethical concerns will force us to turn to local craftsmen to give added value to our status-defining objects. Maybe it will be OK again for local labour to be major cost factors instead of importers, distributors, fuel and marketing. Instead of being sucked along by instant gratification and fashions driven by manufacturers, maybe more people will collaborate with a skilful designer/maker. Together they can work on producing the perfect artefact that fulfils their functional needs and reflects their values.
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We are becoming increasingly visually sophisticated, so let’s put it to good use. Instead of browsing through a catalogue, lets sketch our ideal.”
But perhaps we should view this not as having less but as having more personal and meaningful objects. People making for themselves certainly seems to have potential. (Note to reader: If you haven’t listened to his recent Reith Lectures 2013, which is available as a BBC 4 Podcast, do. Whilst he discusses art, not craft or design, he raises some thought provoking cross-disciplinary questions.)
An age old problem
The Turner Prize winning transvestite potter, Greyson Perry certainly has a point. We know we need to evolve our lifestyles to become more green; humanity consumes too much.
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A new solution
The Industrial Revolution began 250 years ago, but something just as remarkable happened just 25 years ago.
A New Solution
In 1939 Tim Berners-Lee invented the internet and gave it to all of us.
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It’s not just the economies of scale which prevents making by hand from being a mainstream form of manufacture. Manufacture exists within a system; a network is required, where materials are supplied, something is made before being distributed and sold.
Supply
make
Sell
Thanks to Sir Berners-Lee (as well as host of other forward thinking individuals of course) these difficult networks have been reduced to a few simple clicks which anyone can make.
A New Solution
Before the internet this would be a time consuming and expensive procedure, involving factory visits often to another country, awkward financial arrangements and complicated logistics chains which would get your product to the shop.
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SUPPLY Alibaba.com gives an individual access to complex factories across the globe and all they need to make an order is a computer and a credit card. You simply log on, find what it is that you need and purchase it. The great thing is that it’s also wholesale, so there is no middleman profiteering from your purchase. The extent of goods available is phenomenal; from rise by the metric tonne to jet-skis and of course electrical components.
Supply has now opened up to allow the individual to get high tech parts or large scale manufacture.
A New Solution
If you cant find exactly what your after, you could do worse than e-mailing a company selling something similar. It’s not hard for the factories to tweak one of their products to suit your needs and if you do go down this route everyone wins. The factories get to charge a slightly higher price, you get exactly the right component and still get it cheaper than if you were to buy it on the high street.
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MAKE Rep Rap was a project to create a self replicating 3D printer; it can print it’s own parts therefore can make it’s own ‘children’. In 2007 the first Rep Rap was made publicly available. It didn’t just go on sale; the creators uploaded the designs to the web, allowing anyone to download the plans and build their own 3D printer, for free. If you don’t want to build your own then there are numerous other models out there which you can buy off the shelf. 3D printing is still in it’s infancy and it’s capabilities are currently quite limited, you can only print in one colour at a time and the quality of material isn’t great.
3D printing has some obvious limitations and quite a long way to come, but it won’t be long until we are printing products in multi-colours, complete with circuit boards.
A New Solution
Much like the desktop printers we all have in our homes, 3D printers are great for small batches, but not necessarily for large scale production, but you still have Ali Baba.
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SELL The internet also brought along a whole host of retail options for those who want to make to sell. Etsy.com is one of the most popular, especially for hand-crafted of goods. It provides a single location where people will go to find a specific type of object. Etsy allows individuals to sell online, to anyone across the globe; all you need to do is pop it in the post.
Not only has the internert provided us with the supply chains but the distribution networks too. With the minimal of fuss anyone can sell their product online.
A New Solution
Of course there are other retail sites out there too. Ebay is one of the largest individual to individual internet corporations around and of course the traditional routes for distribution are also still available.
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Of course 3D printers require Computer Aided Design models; digital on-screen models which they use like a file to print. Traditionally, CAD has been tricky to master, it was technical, complicated and the programmes were awkward to use.
A New Solution
Not any more. Three options now lie open to the amateur CAD modeller.
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USER FRIENDLY CAD There are many websites and programmes that are making CAD more accessible. Tinker CAD is a great example, it’s free and intuitive to use with simple sliders and grab handles.
REALITY CAPTURE 123D Catch allows you to use your iPhone or iPad to ‘scan’ any object or environment and creates a 3D model. If you don’t have a iPhone or an iPad you could buy a Makerbot Digitizer. It sits on your desk and uses lasers to scan an object again creating a 3D model.
Thiniverse is an online community of CAD modellers who upload their models for anyone to access. Simply download your chosen model and adapt it to suit your needs.
As peoples understanding of 3D modelling grows so will the options available. Perhaps in the future you will model by hand, then scan your prototype to be sent for manufacture, this already exists in the motor industry.
A New Solution
SOMEONE ELSE
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Almost all the facilities for anyone to find the materials they need, the manufacturing they need and a route to market are out-there. As we have seen, many of them are online and you can access them from the comfort of your own home.
make
Fund There are just to the puzzle;
Sell Know
two missing pieces, Funding & Knowing.
A New Solution
Supply
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KNOWING For most making projects (at least for the next few years), 3D printers simply won’t be suitable. That’s when you need a MakerSpace, Hack-Space or FabLab. In 2001 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s opened the world’s first Fab Lab. The Fabrication Laboratory was set up as a social enterprise, creating “hubs of craft” to offer access to professional tools and equipment and to provide design, engineering and making experience to those in the community who would not otherwise have the opportunity.
‘Haystack School in the US is a temple of arts and crafts. …glass-blowers blow and paper-makers make paper… We brought a temporary lab... And what happened? Half the people thought it was long overdue, and half thought “This doesn’t belong here. We don’t do computers.”…but the computer wasn’t really involved in the design process. They were designing with traditional
A New Solution
In an interview for The Power Of Making, when asked if he saw Fab Labs as counter to craft Professor Neil Gershenfeld, the Director of MIT’s Centre for Bits and Atoms, said:
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media and then using the lab to turn their designs into what they wanted to make... The lab was like a medium converter. It was full of computing, but the computing wasn’t used to design. It was used to map things from one media to another.’
Since 2001 Fab Labs have grown exponentially and the idea has been adopted and reproduced globally. There are now open workshops in major cites across the world, providing access to everything the modern craftsperson might need, from traditional woodworking tools to some of the latest computer-controlled machinery. These open workshops typically charge a modest membership fee, they operate on a community, not for profit basis. Any excess money is spent on tools or machines for the benefit of everyone.
Maker Spaces seem to be the best solution to the problems of tooling, space and knowledge. By coming together and sharing, everyone benefits.
A New Solution
Not only are these workshops easily accessible, affordable and packed full of all the tools you could wish for (from 3D printers to welding tools to ‘go to the pub alarms’) they are also packed full of specialist and technical knowledge and expertise, as I found out when I visited Newcastle’s very own Maker Space.
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-David pye, interviewee (not craft theorist)
A New Solution
“IF I don’t know how to do something there are two places I start looking, First In here, [Newcastle and makerspace] second I turn to the internet. One of them will havethe solution.”
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FUNDING The old production model required large amounts of capital to be available at the start of a project. This got spent on tooling costs, research, development and of course manufacture. Kickstarter is a unique and immensely successful crowd-funding model. It encourages users to browse through projects online and fund them before they even go into production. It moves money forward in time.
Supply
make
Sell
Kickstarter
In order to get money using Kickstarter you need to get funding to the value of your target amount.This can be a blessing in disguise; if nobody is interested enough to back your project it probably won’t sell very well.
Kickstarter gives anyone with what they think have a good idea to not only seek funding, but also to find out what the world thinks about their idea.
A New Solution
However it does more than just providing funding. It’s a great source of market research too; people can leave comments about projects, letting the creator know if they think it could be better in any way.
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Investigating making
I conducted a survey to try and discover why people to take part in crafts & making activities.
This is what I found: 89% of people who
took my survey regularly participate in creative activities
What do people make? 16%
Baking & Cooking 9%
DIY
22%
Textiles 9%
Painting
22%
Electronics
Jewellery 3%
Woodwork Steam Trains
3%
Miniature Sculptures
3%
3%
Of those asked 90% said they enjoyed making.
Investigating Making
Glass & Ceramics 6%
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77%
ing
feel satis 80% fied
tress while m ch s ak mu
r making e t f a
ople didn’t fee e p l of
Why do people make? Sense of Achievement
5% 8%
Relaxation
18%
For Fun 15%
Just Because I can 5%
Cheaper
10%
Personalisation
10% 5%
Develop Skills 5%
Socialise Family Time
3%
For Profit
3%
Necessity
3%
Investigating Making
Higher Quality
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furniture is what people would most like to learn to make. Closely by
followed Upholstery
Next Is CAD & Additive Ma n ufa c t u r e and ceramics in fourth place
My research led me to the following realisations: 1. People already make if they want to. 2. What people make is as diverse as the people themselves. 3. For the most part, people don’t make for any real reason or purpose, simply because they enjoy it.
Investigating Making
Glass come
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I also conducted Newcastle’s very
a research visit to own Maker Space.
The members that i spoke to felt:
tools and machinery are available through the maker space; they vote on what gets bought. most people they know make primarily for fun or personal use, not many do it commercially.
Investigating Making
Technical expertise and knowledge of ‘how to’ is available, either online or through people they know.
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What is Next
I set out in my exploration project to discover: How I can encourage more people to make by hand, for themselves? I wanted to find a solution to the current consumption model of fast fashion and undervalued possessions. What I found out was that the people who want to make, do, and those that want to make it a profession now can. Those that feel passionately about creating and get a sense of satisfaction, enjoy leaning new skills and problem solving always will.
‘…making is a revelation of the human impulse to explore and express forms of knowledge and a range of emotions; an impulse towards knowing and feeling, which shapes human action and hence the world we create. The reward of making is the opportunity to experience an individual sense of freedom and control in the world.’
What is next
As Martina Margetts, Senior Tutor of Critical & Historical Studies at the Royal College of Art, once put it:
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