Craft and Home

Drawing together craft scholars and contemporary practitioners, this volume presents historical, critical and practice-based perspectives at the intersection of craft and home, addressing issues of making, dwelling, place, gender, domesticity, sustainability, and decolonization. The notions of craft and home are expansive, contingent on issues of labour, land and identity, with meaning that shifts according to historical, cultural, socio-economic and gendered context. In this transdisciplinary study an international line-up of scholars and makers investigate the intersection of craft and home and shed new light on understudied craft practices: from prison quilting and cooking as craft to unheimlich craft and the role of stitching in place-based environmental awareness. The case studies discussed are global, spanning India, Mexico, Ireland, France, the UK, Canada, the US, and Turkey, and chapters cover diverse craft practices such as quilting, ceramics, crochet, beading, food production, jewellery, weaving, woodworking, and action-figure modelling. Each section is introduced by a ‘Kitchen Table’ conversation with craft practitioners, richly illustrated with images of their work, bringing practice into dialogue with research and theory. Enriching critical craft studies and exploring themes including ecologies of the home, kinship and community, and agency and identity beyond common perceptions, this volume will be a valuable resource for students, researchers and practitioners alike.