Crafts, Agents towards a Sustainable Society
Crafts people live by the first principle of sustainability. They don’t use more than they need, they use material sparingly. Waste is a resource. They use manpower and energy efficiently. They run on sunlight. They reward cooperation. They optimize rather than maximize. They live in balance with nature. They work at home and shop locally. They bank on diversity.
Based on this constant a reflexion and discussion on how one can adapt the idea of craftsmanship into modern ways of doing. How can traditional crafts technics be adjusted to modern materials, to recycling, to waste material? Why is it important ethically and environmentally to favour these technics, many of them falling out of use. How to emphasize their use in our current build environment, designs, and our production,but also in schools? How to encourage collaboration between these different actors of society (craftspeople and the designer, architects, technicians) living apart in two different worlds. The evening discussion/presentations will be followed by day workshops where guest speakers will teach/show their crafts and their many adaptations.
Presentations and workshops from invited guests on this theme : Katell Gelebart, Ecodesigner and environmental educator , Architectes Eike Roswag-Klinge and Andrea Klinge (NATURAL BUILDING LAB, Berlin) - constructive design and climate adaptive architecture, Bram Mpole Bosman and Francis Ten Hove (Blacksmith/ Farrier/ Artist), Kiran Valegha (from Studio Dot, India) ; Emmanuel and Stefanie Heringer (from Geflechtundraum in Germany) basket weaver , carpenter and blacksmith .
