Design

This paper explores aspects of methodology, materiality and meaning in hybrid craft practices that synthesise conventionally unrelated disciplines, some with historical authority as hand craft, and others without. In doing so it frames a potential alternative to a dialectic of objects positioned as either analogue craft:past or techno fab:future. It commences by outlining a case study undertaken in Bandung and the Garud-Tasikmalaya region of West Java, Indonesia from 2013-2015; the Digital Bamboo Studio. This collaborative, practice-led research project engaged Indonesian bamboo artisans, Indonesian and Australian researchers, designers and design students to ideate and craft novel interactive objects using traditional bamboo techniques, digital fabrication processes and interaction electronics. The project’s premise arose from a provocation - what might occur if the Indonesian practice of disrupting existing social media technologies and repurposing them for their own community nee...

Digital Bamboo presented the results of design research into the augmentation of traditional Indonesian bamboo practices with emerging digital fabrication technologies such as 3D printing. The project’s premise arose from a provocation - what might occur if the Indonesian practice of disrupting existing social media technologies and repurposing them for their own community needs, such as ‘twitter trading’, were applied to craft practice or production? Could the “internet of things” include craft objects, and could open design practices help moderate the influence of centralisation in rapidly modernising Indonesia that affects the livelihood of traditional artisan practices. Digital Bamboo received publicity from Sydney Design Week in, through gallery talks, workshops and participation in the Feral Experimental Symposium in 2014 that received large public attendances and critical reviews. The 2015 exhibition presented a number of works to large audiences and publication of a document...

The paper situates craft as a rediscovered force in new materialism, which places increased emphasis on objects and their capacity to empower and/or frustrate the actions of humans. It explores, through a hermeneutic lens, the present and future role of craft as an agent for change. The writing draws parallels between the nature of imperfection in digital and analogue forms, and draws on theoretical arguments in new materialism and the philosophy of technology to discuss how the interpretation of certain processes in analogue and digital craft/design, such as the glitch and the ’hand mark’, can provide new insights into methods of production that place digital and hand-made processes closer together than orthodox views might suggest.

This paper explores aspects of methodology, materiality and meaning in hybrid craft practices that synthesise conventionally unrelated disciplines, some with historical authority as hand craft, and others without. In doing so it frames a potential alternative to a dialectic of objects positioned as either analogue craft:past or techno fab:future. It commences by outlining a case study undertaken in Bandung and the Garud-Tasikmalaya region of West Java, Indonesia from 2013-2015; the Digital Bamboo Studio. This collaborative, practice-led research project engaged Indonesian bamboo artisans, Indonesian and Australian researchers, designers and design students to ideate and craft novel interactive objects using traditional bamboo techniques, digital fabrication processes and interaction electronics. The project's premise arose from a provocation-what might occur if the Indonesian practice of disrupting existing social media technologies and repurposing them for their own community needs, such as 'twitter trading', were applied to craft practice or production? Could the "internet of things" include craft objects? Digital Bamboo drew inspiration from Indonesian precedents to conceive and explore links between hybrid crafting and proximity theory; for example crafted objects that function in intimate or personal spaces, but could also extend to connect with social and public spaces, or vice versa. In 2014, Indonesian and Australian students and designers, bamboo artisans and digital fabricators responded to the provocation, developing ideas and producing a range of works exhibited alongside a documentary video at the Institute of Technology Bandung and the University of New South Wales Galleries in Sydney, funded by UNSW and an Australia Indonesia Institute grant. Analysis of the case study identifies hybridity relationships connecting digital and analogue technologies, processes and materialities, proximity theory and human-object engagement, small-scale making practices and community resilience. Hybrid bamboo/plastic/electronic craft works, their process of becoming, the ideas behind them and values they speak to are also evaluated; with intimacy, empathy and processuality emerging as important concepts for discussion across the range of analogue and digital hardware and software processes. Aesthetic indicators identified in hybrid and non hybrid works are compared, and the work's potential value discussed with respect to their provenance and contemporary value. The potential to connect small scale making communities through interactive, hybrid craft objects and processes is then discussed, speculating on what might be achieved through a better understanding of meaning creation in hybrid craft practices, informed by relationships between hybridity, neutrality and tangible/intangible interactions framed by Hall's proxemics. In conclusion, the paper positions Digital Bamboo outcomes as a type of hybrid crafting yet to be substantially explored. It argues that the hybrid characteristics of hacking/makeshift /jugaad problem solving epitomised by many analogue and digital craft practices exemplify the type of resilience strategies supporting sustainability, which in the transition to a low carbon future, deserve further research and investigation.