Unit 1: Historical craft

Duration: ~ 1.25 hours per section. 6 sections. Reading + video-watching + follow-up activities

Intro:

The history of craft is often defined by changes that occurred in the period of rapid industrialization in the late 18th through mid-20th centuries. However, there are also significant continuities in craft practice and particularly in the community functions of craft. This unit examines these changes and continuities to show how the meaning of craft developed in different contexts and how craft continues to serve a community function.

1.1 Key Concepts
- 1.1.1 What is craft?
- 1.1.2 The history of craft
- 1.1.3 Craft and community
1.2 Case Studies
- 1.2.1 Kihnu Cultural Space
- 1.2.2 Tõstamaa Handicraft Center
- 1.2.3 Saara Publishing House

1.1. Key Concepts

1.1.1. What is craft?

Craft is a complicated concept that gets defined by its methods, its products, the media or materials used by makers, and through its differences from other forms of artistry and production.

Methods: Craft is often associated with handwork, and the term implies that mechanization is minimal in production, which relies instead on the hand skills of the maker. Glenn Adamson defines craft as “‘making something well through hand skill,’ no more and no less” (Adamson 2013, xxiv). In addition, craft implies the presence of an artisan rather than production via a fragmented factory environment in which each worker is only involved in making a small part of the final product. Concerns about the decline of craftsmanship often center on loss of independence and creative decision making for makers; “we can see that the oft-cited fear of the loss of skills is actually not (or not only) a simple call for preservation, but rather an expression of a broader anxiety about isolating, fragmentary experience” (Adamson 2013, 211) in which people are disconnected from how things are made and how their own work contributes to making.

Products: The term “craft” can imply either very high or very low quality in a product. When it is used to designate high quality, it implies that the maker has a high skill level, often using traditional knowledge, and that the product is made in small batches or one at a time in a small-scale production environment rather than a factory. This is often applied to food and beverage products like craft beer, which is generally produced by independent breweries with creative control over their products. “Artisanal” is another term that is used in the same way to imply a high level of skills and a sense of older (and possibly better) ways of making and doing.

When it is used to indicate low quality, “craft” conjures up images of hot glue, glitter, poorly made holiday presents, and children’s projects. In this sense, craft is often stigmatized as a lesser form of art made by unskilled hobbyists. Emphasis is often placed on the craft process rather than outcomes or skills, and amateur craft can be valued for its therapeutic or social benefits even when its products are looked down upon. See Leslie Hall’s music video “Craft Talk” for an example of this portrayal of craft in a celebratory rather than stigmatized mode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWVzIfUfjGk

Media/Materials: Craft may be defined by the use of particular materials like wood, glass, fibers, and clay in what might otherwise be identified as works of art. This is related to the concept of studio craft, which is often presented, marketed, and studied as similar to fine art but with different materials.

Difference from art: Craft is sometimes defined by its differences from art or even as art that is naïve or poorly executed. Craft items can be thought of as art that also have practical use, but this clashes with studio craft, which often produces objects that only have a decorative function. Another way to frame this is to think of art as derived from tradition but putting the artist’s personal inspiration and expression first, while craft places tradition at the forefront even though it also displays the ideas and individuality of the maker.

All these definitions have their own problems, and it is more important to be aware of the implications of the word “craft” in different contexts than it is to have a solid definition that works in all cases. In most definitions, craft emphasizes the importance of process and skills, while art emphasizes ideas and design. Most craft implies the use of the hands to shape materials based on traditional forms or processes, but the maker’s personal inspiration is also an important factor. Craft suggests a connection with history and the agency and freedom of the maker to create the whole product (rather than fragmented work creating small parts of the product to predetermined specifications). Craftsmanship in particular emphasizes how processes of making are carried out through particular skills developed over generations.

Sources:

Adamson, Glenn. 2013. The Invention of Craft. Oxford: Berg.

Glassie, Henry. 1989. The Spirit of Folk Art: The Girard Collection at the Museum of International Folk Art. New York: Abrams in association with the Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe.

Additional materials:

“What is craft?

Fuller Craft Museum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3crT-FhtsM

American Craft Council: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3l2EAbPls8

Think critically about the definitions of craft presented in these videos. How do they differentiate craft from art?

Studio craft https://www.tptoriginals.org/what-is-studio-craft/

How does studio craft blur the lines between art and craft? Do you find the differentiation between studio craft and fine art satisfactory? Why or why not?

1.1.2. The history of craft

Most of what we consider craft today was once simply part of the necessary activities for daily life. People needed cups to drink from, baskets to carry their harvest, and sweaters to keep them warm. However, industrialization changed the ways that people obtained the things they needed and took them out of the countryside where they could access and process natural materials for making. For those employed in factories that produced goods by machine that were previously handmade, the processes of making became fragmented. An industrial weaver might only deal with certain parts of the process – setting up the loom, winding bobbins, or fulling cloth, for example – and could not point to a fabric that was totally her own work. It was in this context that the idea of craft as a separate activity came to the fore, especially through the Arts and Crafts Movement of the 19th century. Artists and activists associated with this movement, particularly William Morris, believed that handcrafted things should be accessible to all and that workers should have pleasure, beauty, and independence in their work.

However, Morris and his movement softened over time on their focus on hand tools and opposition to industry, and they produced some objects that combined both. Similarly, contemporary craft may adopt sophisticated technology like 3D printers, laser cutters, and computerized embroidery machines. Instead of a sharp, binary opposition between handwork and industry, the reality is far more complex and depends on a combination of economic and social factors, access to different kinds of goods, and cultural values.

Arts & Crafts Explained | William Morris’s Legacy: W.A.S. Benson’s Teapot | Curator’s Corner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSLlmf-l_lI

Through William Morris’s Arts and Crafts Movement and other social movements that focused on handwork and local craft education, such as the Swedish homecraft movement and the Danish folk high school movement, the idea of craft developed as something separate from daily life both practically and economically. Craft items today are often sold in boutiques or museum stores while mass produced goods are used in the home and at work. Craft skills may still be learned at home or through apprenticeships, but they also are often taught through formal educational institutions including higher education, which is covered in the next section. Instead of being learned alongside agricultural and domestic skills, craft techniques are now often singled out for safeguarding, sometimes formally through institutional heritage frameworks at the local, national or international level, and traditional crafts are often featured in tourism marketing as charismatic examples of unique local cultures.

Further reading:

Cooke, Edward S. 2010. “The Long Shadow of William Morris: Paradigmatic Problems of Twentieth-Century American Furniture.” In The Craft Reader, edited by Glenn. Adamson, 226–35. Berg Publishers.

Viires, Ants. 1986. “Discovering Estonian Folk Art at the Beginning of the 20th Century.” Journal of Baltic Studies 17 (2): 79–97.

1.1.3. Craft and Community

Thinkers like William Morris and the prominence of contemporary studio craft can lead one to imagine that all craft is the product of independent makers working alone in a studio or that historical craft was generally carried out by skilled, self-sufficient artisans who started with natural materials from the land and took them all the way through to the finished item. However, crafts have historically been carried out in a variety of ways, many of them through collaboration within communities, workshops, or ateliers. Makers work with other members of their communities who grow, forage, or harvest materials and process them with makers in mind. They also produce items for their communities according to community values, needs, and aesthetic preferences. Thus, making often takes place in deeply entangled communities and through multiple stages that may be carried out by different people in close collaboration.

We can use Henry Glassie’s framework for material culture to look at craft as involving three stages or modes: creation, consumption and communication (Glassie 1999, 48). In creation, we find all the processes of making from producing and processing materials to the finishing stages of creating the handmade object. Even in the earliest stages, materials must be selected, grown, harvested, and processed with the maker and user in mind, which requires individuals who carry out these processes to be aware of the physical and aesthetic properties of the materials and how they will behave in subsequent stages. In consumption, the handmade object is purchased, given, traded, or kept by the maker and is put into use. Communication links the first two as the user encounters the skill, traditions, values, and tastes of the maker through the handmade item and assesses the effectiveness of the maker’s work through use. This communication goes the other way as well; the maker will often create with the user in mind, whether it is a specific user or an idea of a user, and will adjust the craft process accordingly.

In use, the handmade item becomes part of the social life of the community. For example, handwoven clothing is worn in public, communicating details of the individual’s personality, origin, and life stage. Thus, craft items can be important for expressing personal and cultural identity.

Craft traditions also involve community gatherings that serve instrumental purposes –– accomplishing large projects as a group –– and social purposes, as when quilters at a quilting bee swap stories, tell jokes, and become closer as a community. There are many traditions throughout the world in which groups of people come together to accomplish a large task, like making hay, fulling cloth, or building barns. In Estonia, this kind of work party is called “talgud”. An example of a contemporary talgud happens on Kihnu island after the sheep are shorn: people may be invited to gather and prepare the clean wool for the mill by teasing apart the locks of wool by hand. Thus, a historical hand skill (teasing wool) contributes to a modern industrial process (spinning yarn in a mill) which then contributes to additional handwork (knitting traditional mittens, gloves, socks, and other items from locally grown wool).

For craft traditions to continue, essential skills must be passed on through education, whether formal education through schools or apprenticeships or informal education in craft groups, among neighbors, or at home with family.

In the Nordic region, craft is still an important part of life, but it is often taught through folk schools, craft schools, and programs in higher education.

For an example of craft education in Sweden, watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8yvrp7iUys

In Estonia, crafts are taught in a variety of institutions ranging from local handicraft centers to higher education. The Viljandi Culture Academy has its roots in Tallinn in 1952 and has curricula in textiles, metalwork, and construction as well as other arts and cultural specializations like performing arts and music. Organized as a college of the University of Tartu, it trains craftspeople through a higher education model. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgln7yadYRA

In the United States and Canada, craft education often takes place in hobby classes or through guilds, formal, usually independent groups of practitioners who organize around a specific craft or material and who arrange educational opportunities, keep lending libraries of media and equipment, and may hold public events like exhibits and sales.

See the Ottawa Valley Spinners and Weavers Guild for an example of a large, active craft guild focused on textile crafts: https://www.ovwsg.com/

The Marshfield School of Weaving is an independent educational institution in Vermont. It does not confer credits or degrees. Learners use 19th-century weaving equipment to learn historical techniques for production weaving. https://www.marshfieldschoolofweaving.com/

In the United States, many state-funded folklife organizations run Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Programs that pair traditional craftspeople with younger practitioners or enthusiasts who want to learn. These programs provide funding for the educational process, often including a stipend and funds for materials, and the folklife organizations often document the process and outcomes, providing additional visibility for crafts that may be rare or in decline. The requirements of funding agencies may create strict limits on what is considered traditional or who is more likely to be funded; for example, concerns about cultural appropriation may lead to better funding outcomes when the artist/apprentice pair are both from the same cultural background. In any case, the funding provided through these programs often makes the difference for makers who may not be able to afford to spend the time to teach if it takes away from work they must do to be financially stable. In economic conditions that make it difficult for skilled craftspeople to make a living from their creative products, craftspeople may be forced to focus on short-term financial outcomes to the detriment of the longevity of the craft practice overall. A funded apprenticeship meets short-term financial needs while providing the framework to pass skills to the next generation.

While the framework for these programs is formal and institutional, learning is usually informal and may take place at home or in other private settings. This enables traditional craftspeople to teach in culturally appropriate ways consistent with the history of their crafts. Historically, learning a craft was often also a socialization process; rather than following a strict curriculum in a formal setting, learners were gradually socialized into a practice through being given increasingly complex tasks that allowed them to build competence over time while being consistently exposed to the highest-skill practices through proximity to a master artisan (Lave and Wenger 1991). Although their duration is relatively short, generally one year, apprenticeships give artisans the opportunity to socialize their students into their practice in a more traditional way. In some cases, especially with minority ethnic groups, a craft apprenticeship can also be used to improve the use of endangered languages or culturally specific terminology. Thus, contemporary craft education can be directed toward other goals along with the continuation of craft skills and can serve economic, cultural, and social needs that connect with craft’s historical functions within communities.

For an example of a major apprenticeship program, see https://traditionalarts.indiana.edu/Programs/Apprenticeships/index.html

Sources:

Glassie, Henry. 1999. Material Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Lave, Jean., and Etienne Wenger. 1991. Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Further reading:

Klein, Barbro. 2010. “Cultural Loss and Cultural Rescue: Lilli Zickerman, Ottilia Adelborg, and the Promises of the Swedish Homecraft Movement.” In The Benefit of Broad Horizons, 261–80. Brill.

Totten, Kelley Dianne. 2017. “Making Craft Performing an Idea of Craft at U.S. Folk Schools.” Ph.D., United States — Indiana: Indiana University. http://www.proquest.com/pqdtglobal/docview/1949793020/abstract/F9C9253C15D94AF3PQ/1.

1.2. Case Studies

Traditional crafts continue to serve important purposes within communities today. Connected with heritage, tourism, and local identity, they can be resources for their communities when used to bring in tourists or anchor cultural initiatives. Through craft education and craft festivals, communities gather, learn, make, and reinforce intergenerational connections. Different types of resources are necessary to ensure the ongoing vitality of traditional crafts, and the following case studies address some of the major needs and how satisfying them also fulfills other needs for sociability and economic stability.

1.2.1. Kihnu Cultural Space: Intangible cultural heritage as a resource for community and economic stability

Small communities, particularly those that are distant from major population centers, often struggle to maintain economic resources that provide residents with stable, local sources of income. Without economic support, migration can deplete the population as people relocate for jobs, and time spent on traditional cultural activities may instead be devoted to struggling for subsistence. Many communities have turned to culture as an economic resource by presenting it as intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and seeking recognition from national and international agencies that can lead to funding and cultural tourism. In these cases, a perception of the authenticity of a local culture strengthens its case for recognition, and craft has an important role in making traditions visible and material.

A small Estonian island in the Gulf of Riga, Kihnu is known for its distinctive handicrafts, traditional music and dance, and cultural landscapes. Craft and communal life are vital to local identity and traditional lifeways, and both are featured in Kihnu’s successful 2002 application to be recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as one of the “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” (which were incorporated into the “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” in 2008).

UNESCO recognition supports the islanders’ cultural activities, and Kihnu Island is a popular tourist destination and subject for filmmakers, photographers, and journalists, particularly those who are interested in its reputation as “Europe’s Last Matriarchy”.

See: https://youtu.be/3q5rO_ijlN0 for an example of how Kihnu is often represented.

Activities for tourists often incorporate cultural activities and community. The Kihnu Knitting Festival is an annual event that lasts several days and brings in largely domestic tourists from the Estonian mainland to learn how to knit traditional Kihnu hats, mittens, socks, and other garments and accessories. Although the instructors mainly belong to the younger generation (middle aged and younger), elder knitters are invited to come and knit with the guests, enjoy snacks and the admiration of the mainlanders, and chat. One of the evenings is devoted to a dance with a live band, which continues to play late into the night after the mainlanders have gone to bed. Thus, the knitting festival, which is advertised to mainlanders, also serves important community functions, giving elderly women the opportunity to socialize and have their skills admired and giving people of all ages an evening of music and social dancing. Throughout the festival, handmade textiles are on display in an exhibit and in use, as most of the islanders in attendance wear handwoven skirts or handknitted jumpers. This kind of visible display reinforces the importance of craft in community contexts, both in processes of making and in use.

The Kihnu Knitting Festival and other major cultural activities are organized, hosted, and supported by a network of institutions and organizations run by and for the islanders. They include the Kihnu Cultural Space Foundation (Kihnu kultuuriruum), the Metsamaa Culture Farm (Metsamaa pärimustalu), and the Kihnu Museum.

Although outsiders may only see the summer activities, winter is the traditional time for handicrafts, and the Kihnu Museum often hosts a regular winter handicraft gathering called üläjõstmine (girls knitting together). Rather than just being a location for tourist activities and keeper of the island’s precious artifacts, the museum is first a gathering place for the islanders and host for cultural activities. Workshops hosted by the museum provide opportunities for the islanders to refine their skills at specific handicrafts and often bring in an intergenerational group of local participants during the off season.

A tourist economy has many drawbacks: small communities may become crowded during the summer, there can be environmental consequences and disruptions to local life, and people may find themselves pressured to perform their culture for outsiders or may feel like they are on display. However, when local people are able to make their own decisions in managing their ICH, they can direct the development of some parts of the tourist economy to support their own local cultural and social needs and values. We can see this on Kihnu Island, where tourist activities are also relevant to local people and their needs. Traditional community crafts are supported by tourist spending, and the islanders have used these traditions as a resource to secure a more stable life on the island.

See the Kihnu Cultural Space website at http://www.kultuuriruum.ee/en/

Read more about Intangible Cultural Heritage and UNESCO https://ich.unesco.org/

Further reading:

Foster, Michael Dylan. 2011. “The UNESCO Effect: Confidence, Defamiliarization, and a New Element in the Discourse on a Japanese Island.” Journal of Folklore Research 48 (1): 63–107.

Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara. 2004. “Intangible Heritage as Metacultural Production.” Museum International 56 (1–2): 52–65.

Kuutma, Kristin. 2002. “National Candidature File of Estonia: Kihnu Cultural Space.” Vol 1. Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. UNESCO.

Noyes, Dorothy. 2006. “The Judgment of Solomon: Global Protections for Tradition and the Problem of Community Ownership.” Cultural Analysis 5: 27–56.

Follow-up activity: Think of a local craft tradition from your background or one that you have heard about. If you were in charge of a government or international office that works with ICH, how would you initiate a project to safeguard that tradition in a way that ensures that it serves the cultural and social needs of local people? How would you identify key stakeholders? How would you make sure that they had ownership and agency in the process?

1.2.2 Tõstamaa Handicraft Center: Interconnected institutions form a hub for education and collaboration

Located on the west coast of Estonia, Tõstamaa is a small municipality with a rich history of handicrafts that were influenced by the local maritime culture. Today it is home to the Tõstamaa Handicraft Center, a craft shop, and the Tõstamaa manor, which houses gallery and classroom spaces. These three locations provide a robust infrastructure for traditional crafts.

One of the most unusual and fascinating knitting techniques in Estonia is associated with Tõstamaa. Roosimine, or inlay knitting, was known in several Estonian parishes. In Tõstamaa, it was used to embellish finely knitted gloves in combination with brightly colored fringes. These beautiful, complex gloves have become one of the hallmarks of the region. Anu Randmaa, the head of the Tõstamaa Handicraft Center, has reconstructed the technique based on museum examples and teaches it to knitters. A group of master knitters has formed around the handicraft center, and they knit traditional gloves using the inlay knitting technique and also produce smaller inlay items for sale, such as pincushions and wrist warmers. These items are sold at the handicraft shop in Tõstamaa along with other locally made items like pottery, woven belts, rugs, baskets, and bags.

In addition to the local community of knitters that have formed around the Tõstamaa Handicraft Center, there are also weavers and potters who use its studio space. Another craftsperson at the center, Liis Luhamaa, has reconstructed a special ikat weaving technique used only in this area to weave striped folk skirts. As part of her master’s research at the Viljandi Culture Academy, Luhamaa traveled to Japan and learned a similar ikat technique in order to apply it at home in Estonia. She has since produced several traditional ikat skirts and was awarded the 2019 Anu Raud Scholarship for her research.

Tõstamaa’s community craft resources support education for youth and adults. Young makers are featured in exhibits at the Tõstamaa manor, and there is a small alcove in the handicraft shop where they can bring their work to learn about handicraft entrepreneurship. Children’s classes through the Pärnu Art School are held at the Tõstamaa Handicraft Center; these include children from the age of seven and consist of two specialties: ceramics and handicrafts (mostly related to textiles).

The Tõstamaa Handicraft Center is a partner of the Pärnu County Folk Clothing Advisory Board through the Pärnu Museum and has trained three cohorts of its two-year folk costume school that teaches people to make their own folk costume using traditional methods. This has been accomplished through collaboration with the NGO Rahvarõivas and the Estonian Folk Art and Handicraft Union and is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia. During the annual Craft Camp organized by the Viljandi Culture Academy of the University of Tartu, the center hosts international guests on a day tour and Randmaa teaches a course in Viljandi on the roosimine inlay knitting technique.

The infrastructure for traditional crafts in Tõstamaa satisfies a range of community needs by providing accessible spaces to gather, create, sell and exhibit handmade products, and educate children and adults from the local area, other parts of Estonia, or even other countries. Because this robust infrastructure exists, local craftspeople can develop a high skill level and collaborate with other organizations to achieve lofty educational goals.

For more about the Tõstamaa Handicraft Center, see https://tostamaa.wixsite.com/kasitoo/in-english

Watch this video about roosimine inlay knitting https://youtu.be/8qOuG7hShz8

Follow-up activity: Go back to the tradition you were thinking about safeguarding in the previous activity and think about the kinds of local institutions that would be necessary to make sure that it still has a vital role in the community. What kinds of physical spaces are necessary and for what kinds of activities? How would they support education for the next generation of practitioners, and how would they educate guests and tourists? What kinds of facilities would support collaborations with other organizations from outside the immediate area? How can these spaces be arranged to support sociability and making together?

1.2.3 Saara Publishing House: Online and print resources support craft activities in a wider community

Saara Kirjastus (“Saara Publishing House”) publishes deluxe books about historical Estonian textile crafts, provides tutorials and workshops, and sells yarn and knitting supplies specifically for the traditional knitting market. It was founded in 2002 by Anneli Kenk and Anu Pink to publish instructional books on traditional crafts, and they expanded the business in 2015 to also sell handicraft supplies. Pink is an expert on Estonian handknitting who graduated with an MA from the Viljandi Culture Academy in 2013 with a thesis about changes and local differences in knitting techniques for socks and stockings in Estonia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She is the co-author of Estonian Knitting 1: Traditions and Techniques (Pink, Reimann, and Jõeste 2016), the most authoritative and comprehensive book on Estonian knitting. In addition to researching, writing, and editing craft books and articles, Pink is a skilled knitter and organizes the Kudujate Koopiaklub (Knitters’ Copy Club), a large group of skilled craftspeople who knit items based on ethnographic examples. Together, they have produced two exhibitions at the Estonian National Museum—a massive exhibition of historical stockings from Muhu island alongside newly knitted ones by the Copy Club members and an exhibition of 72 copies of Mulgi gloves and mittens based on museum examples to benefit the Anu Raud Center.

Saara only sells yarn that is recommended by the craft masters who write its books. Sold under the label HEA or “GOOD” yarn, the online description of each type of yarn explains exactly how it is good in the context of traditional Estonian crafts. Not only for knitting, Saara’s yarn collection includes good yarn for weaving patterned pick-up belts, which is difficult to come by through regular yarn shops.

Saara’s products support in-person and online craft education. Books published by Saara are important reference materials for craft classes at the university level and often feature research by craftspeople trained in the same setting. Saara’s yarns enable craftspeople to knit and weave items that look and feel much like museum examples. These products address two major issues in traditional craft communities: scarce written sources and difficulty finding appropriate materials.

Another vital educational resource provided by Saara is a series of online “knitting school” videos that show how to do special Estonian knitting techniques. They consist of short video demonstrations that show the hands of the knitter close up and working slowly to make it easy for a learner to copy the technique.

Saara Publishing House provides a specialized set of resources for craft practice and education that would not be available from a large-scale enterprise that was only focused on broad commercial success. Although they have international customers and enough demand to translate books into English on a regular basis, they deal with a specialized topic within the larger commercial landscape of resources for knitters and weavers. However, in large part due to the expertise and passion of Anu Pink, Saara has found a niche in the Estonian craft community that could not be fulfilled by organizations without a deep understanding of the needs of local traditional craftspeople. The success of the Knitters’ Copy Club and its exhibitions is evidence of the profound effect of Saara’s support for historical knitting expertise at home in Estonia. In turn, by making Estonian knitting more accessible for a wider craft community, Saara has expanded its audience and supported international interest in Estonian crafts.

Saara Publishing House: http://saara.ee/

Saara knitting school: http://saara.ee/kudumiskool

See the online exhibit of Mulgi gloves here: https://raudvara.saara.ee/kindanaitus/

Follow-up activity: The case study of Saara Publishing House shows how access to specialized supplies and targeted educational resources is vital for the continuation of traditional crafts. Think about the craft tradition from the previous two activities. Write answers to these questions in your journal: What kinds of educational resources and materials are needed for it to continue? In the absence of a commercial enterprise like Saara, what kinds of open innovation projects could fulfill these needs?