Crafts NOW: 2nd edition, this time online

The conference entitled Crafts NOW. A day of reflection on craftsmanship and innovation is being held as part of Barcelona Design Week, which will be running from 17 to 26 November, both online and face-to-face in the Catalan capital. As the name suggests, the conference will be focusing on craftsmanship. It’s no coincidence that more and more people are talking about the importance of crafts and craftsmanship in creating sustainable projects. It is essential to set up a place for interaction to discuss the concept of innovation in craftsmanship from different perspectives, as a way to address global issues with local solutions, share knowledge and encourage the evolution of craftsmanship as a whole. This interaction can be used to establish how regional resources are used and to develop new materials or harness materials that until now were nothing more than a reflection of human creation.
The creative world goes back a long way when it comes to using locally-sourced materials, always seeing whatever is within reach as relevant. This is a frequently discussed topic. But what happens when we use a material that doesn’t come from nearby, one which destroys us and makes us destructive? One of these materials is, of course, plastic, the focus of the 2^nd edition of the conference that is on the programme of the fourteenth edition of Barcelona Design Week. The organizers intend to drive debate on innovation around this material, the tools that can be used to process it, the procedures to handle it and the environmental impact of its creation and processing. The idea is to analyze how sharing knowledge fosters the evolution of craftsmanship, how innovation enables us to discover local solutions to global problems and, at the same time, how it conditions the heart and soul of craftsmanship, acting as a wake-up call that tirelessly updates the practice over the years. So, this new craftsmanship transcends disciplinary confines and is positioned in a panorama where research, exploration and innovation are the cornerstones of future growth.
The event is organized by the government of Catalonia (Artesania Catalunya- CCAM), curated by the FAD Association of Artists and Artisans (A-FAD) and with the support of the Federation of Artisan Trade Associations of Catalonia (FAAOC). This activity is part of the #Talent_jove 2019-2022 programme that aims to provide tools for the artisan collective, and that includes a range of activities for promoting emerging talent and generational shift in crafts. The sessions taking place on 18 November include those led by Mattia Bernini, member of Precious Plastic; Micaella Pedros, the artist who set up the “Joining Bottles” project; and Laura Bahía, a student at the Barcelona School of Design and Engineering (Elisava) who created the project “Revivir: Tejiendo terreno” (revive: knitting for land).
If you’re keen to see other events of the 2020 Barcelona Design Week, we recommend the opening conference. On 17 November, Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design, and Director of Research and Development at MoMA, New York. We couldn’t think of a more appropriate topic for this year: There Is Always a Design Emergency. Go to the dedicated website to see other events and exhibitions.

Christiane Bürklein

Conference: Crafts NOW. A day of reflection on craftsmanship and innovation
during Barcelona Design Week
Date: 18 November 2020, from 10AM to 1PM CET
Images: see captions
Find out more: https://barcelonadesignweek.com/