About the Centre des Arts et Métiers

The Centre des Arts et Métiers (CNAM), Paris, France, hosts a museum of technological innovation and contains objects related to both the artistic and more industrial production of glass. Furthermore, it holds historic archives regarding the artefacts and techniques under study. All of these perspectives were harnessed in the Mingei pilot installation, which was open until the beginning of April 2022.

The pilot installation: training the public in glass blowing processes through re-enactment

The installation targeted craft presentation through an exploration of the workspace, as well as craft training through an interactive experience where users re-enact gestures of a glass master holding a tool and receiving audiovisual feedback on the accuracy of their performance. Preliminary evaluation results show high acceptance of the installation and good user interest.

Glasswork is a traditional craft that combines hand and body gestures and a thorough understanding of the material. It is a challenging craft because the material changes states from liquid to solid during production. While this complexity was not presented in the visitor-facing installation, in Mingei more broadly we pushed forward the technical means for capturing and conveying these sensory aspects of glasswork, that is to say, the requirements of dexterous aspects and tool manipulation in craft presentation and preservation. 

Learning and iterating: what we learned from user-experience evaluations

After the technical validation of the installation, we conducted a short preliminary evaluation with museum personnel. The first part of the preliminary evaluation was conducted with users from the education department of the museum who were invited to experience the installation and mimic the craftsperson actions using the bench and tools provided. What was learned led to changes to the user-interact (UI) to (a) provide real-time help to users to guide them through the training process and (b) enhance the feedback users get while using the app to better understand whether they are copying the movements right or wrongly. We fixed a glitch that meant that users sometimes thought they were doing it wrong because the feedback came too slowly. stopped with the application because they didn’t receive fast enough, and instead thought they were doing it wrong. 

A wider evaluation with visitors was conducted later. We asked a user-experience evaluator to monitor how users interacted with the installation. Minor issues with the UI were improved, including the addition of introductory screens to assist users to know when the presentation element had finished and when the training session was beginning (and when they were expected to get active). 

Responses from museum visitors

There were regular visitors to the installation, located as it was in part of the impressive church in the museum building, Saint-Martin-des-Champs. An audio component meant that the installation piqued the interest of those outside. 

Feedback collected via our post-interaction questionnaire showed that what seemed to impress visitors the most was the whole concept of being able to mimic the gestures, or as one of the visitors characteristically wrote “being in the shoes of the glassmaker” and receive feedback on the accuracy of the movement in real-time. Using a real-life workbench and glass blowpipe only added to the authenticity of the represented scene and further enhanced the whole user experience.

Find out more for yourself in the video below and explore the digital presentation of glass-blowing on the Mingei Open Platform.

Photo’s by Lotte Stekelenburg for Museum Boijmans van Beuningen.

In the spring of 2013, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam hosted the exhibition Hand Made – Long Live Crafts, a concept by Mienke Simon Thomas, who works as senior curator at the museum. She wanted to show and celebrate craft in contrast to industrial mass production. Showing the production processes of the various crafts, as well as the way contemporary design is being inspired by these traditional techniques, was pivotal for the exhibition. Equally important was the intangible element of crafts and knowledge exchange. How could a contemporary art museum create an exhibition of making within the limits of an exhibition space? We spoke with Catrien Schreuder, then Head of Education and Interpretation at the museum, to find out more.

Bringing craftspeople into an exhibition space

The exhibition team did not want to create an environment that would only focus on the step-by-step production process. Craft is about skill, experience, personal preference, tradition and creativity. The exhibition should capture all these elements, as well as showcasing examples of contemporary design inspired by craft. As the exhibition concept was being developed, Catrien suggested physically integrating craft demonstrations into the exhibition. It would be the best, and maybe the only, way to do the crafts justice and meet the exhibition’s goals. 

The exhibition curator had a large network within very diverse craft communities but finding craftspeople willing to work inside the gallery space was only one of many challenges the exhibition team faced. Work stations were integrated into the exhibition design, meaning there was no separate space to work in, but the physical work was done on the exhibition floor amongst museum objects and visitors. Craftspeople were invited to work in the gallery for a period of one week each during the opening hours of the exhibition, 11am – 5pm. A weekly changing schedule was made for six work stations, which proved to be a serious logistical challenge. The location of the workstations did not change. This meant that sometimes a craftsperson was doing work that was directly related to the objects surrounding them or relevant objects that were placed further away. As well as the demonstrations, some makers also gave workshops. During a crafts fair all kinds of craftspeople could sell their wares to museum visitors.

A few ground rules were identified when selecting makers. The craft process couldn’t be ‘wet’, meaning no liquids could be used in the gallery, and it couldn’t involve using gasses or flames. The use of sharp objects was considered out of bounds as well. These restrictions were challenging for both the exhibition team and the craftspeople. Some crafts are quite noisy, which also caused issues in the gallery space. Together with the makers involved, the exhibition team tried to find solutions to allow as many participants as possible to be part of the show. Sometimes this meant ‘pretend making’, leaving out any out of bounds tools, or a show-and-tell stall. However, the exhibition team preferred as authentic a craft experience as possible. Ideally, visitors would be able to join in, but in reality, this proved very hard to facilitate for most crafts. 

A wide range of craftspeople was selected for the exhibition. This included professionals making a living with their craft, but also amateurs and even a group of elderly people living in local care homes who knitted the products of Rotterdam-based knitwear label Granny’s Finest. Some makers were scheduled for multiple weeks, because they really liked the concept and were available. 

It quickly became clear that some makers had integrated giving demonstrations or workshops into their work practice. They felt comfortable engaging audience members, explaining their work and answering questions. Others had no such experience and at times found it challenging to be working in an environment where strangers would walk up to them and ask questions or comment on their work. This in return meant that visitors too would find it harder to approach these makers. Sometimes this meant that visitors didn’t quite understand what they were looking at or felt like they couldn’t ask any questions. Engaging a lay audience with your craft requires a very different skill set than performing the craft itself. Sometimes a craftsperson was particularly popular with visitors and their presence would be shared by word-of-mouth. Because each maker was usually only present for one week, this sometimes led to disappointment when visitors would come to see a specific craftsperson who had already left. 

Creating partnerships

For most makers, their key aim was to reach a new audience, educate people about their craft and get them excited. The exhibition created a good opportunity to do this. It was important for the museum to truly integrate the working craftspeople in the exhibition, which ideally also meant involving them in the run-up to the exhibition. This was something the museum hadn’t done before and looking back two clear challenges can be identified.

First, the production time for an exhibition is generally at least 12 months. To ask people from outside the organisation to be involved from the beginning means reaching out to them and establishing connections early on. It also means claiming quite a lot of time from these people. Often, the craftspeople’s diaries did not allow the level of involvement the museum would have desired. The museum wanted to be more flexible to facilitate personal planning requests, but within the existing organisational structures this proved challenging. Those makers who had been more involved from the beginning would become a more integrated part of the exhibition than those who were later added to complete the rota. 

Secondly, the conceptual and practical integration of the workstations needed safeguarding throughout the development of the exhibition. Once conversations with makers had started it soon became clear they needed more space to perform their craft than was initially planned. Simply providing a table to work at was not enough. Protecting this space for the craftspeople, both physically and conceptually, needed constant focus. How does one communicate about their presence and the fact that new people are at work every week? How can you best inform and guide visitors in an exhibition that allows for different kinds of behaviour than one is used to when visiting an art museum? The exhibition itself was more dynamic, but visitors too were invited to be more active. They were expected to engage with others in the gallery, something that’s unusual in most art exhibitions. Staff too had to adjust to this new gallery dynamic. Museum educators in particular had to respond to the everchanging presence of craftspeople and adjust their programme accordingly. 

In the end, the presence of the craftspeople in the gallery was seen as an important element of the exhibition. Although videos could in some cases have provided a better explanation, nothing compares to the ‘magic’ of seeing somebody physically doing the work in front of you. Seeing somebody perform the same movements for hours on end in order to produce something, you see the focus and attention that are needed. These are things that cannot be conveyed via text labels or instruction videos. 

Embedding what was learned 

The experience gained during the Hand Made exhibition was put to use in following exhibitions. A good example is the exhibition Fra Bartolommeo The Divine Renaissance in 2017. The museum wanted to focus on the work process and contemporary relevance of this 16^th century artist. The museum decided to invite a local artist, Iwan Smit, to set up his studio in the exhibition and work on a modern, contemporary altar piece, inspired by conversations with visitors. The museum now had a much better idea of the requirements and space that were necessary for a workable artist’s studio. They also knew that the artist they wanted to select not only had the artistic skills they were looking for in relation to the work of Fra Bartolommeo, but also needed a specific set of social skills to engage visitors. A stronger partnership was forged with the artist and his presence in the gallery was described by Schreuder like “an event, but spread out across three months,” rather than an element of a ‘traditional’ exhibition. The work Smit created during the exhibition was acquired by the museum and added to the collection. Schreuder further indicated that in her own practice, (she has since moved to Stedelijk Museum Schiedam) the idea of an exhibition as a dynamic space or workspace in addition to a space where people can look at objects, has become a recurring theme. 

Could Hand Made have been a successful exhibition without the presence of craftspeople? Probably. But nothing compares to the thrill of seeing somebody using their mind and body to create a unique product, to witness the process and to realise: people still make things.

Based on an interview with Catrien Schreuder, Head of Exhibitions and Collections at Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, former Head of Education and Interpretation at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, conducted on 7 June 2021.

Photo’s by Lotte Stekelenburg for Museum Boijmans van Beuningen.

International webinar Waag: Technology as a means of preservation

Online, four heritage experts along with moderator Nicole McNeilly conducted an international webinar focused on how technology can be utilised to preserve heritage crafts. During the presentation, the audience learned more about the three Mingei pilot projects, on glassblowing, silk weaving, and mastic growing, which will create tools for heritage craft presentation and guide future research.

The Mingei project platform and different technologies like 3D reconstructions, used to preserve and represent heritage craft, were also demonstrated. Following the presentation was a panel on various topics like the inclusion of AI in craft preservation, how the Mingei project can serve to pass on informal heritage craft knowledge to a broad audience, and how this knowledge of the past can serve to inform our future.

rewatch the webinar

Local session Waag: Fashion as a thread between past and present

At Waag, creative Director Dick van Dijk provided an overview of the Mingei project and introduced the attendees to keynote speaker and renowned fashion designer Antoine Peters’ work, saying that it ‘looks into the past and provides new context’ for the future. During the keynote, Peters discussed several of his projects including his collaboration with the Zeeuws Museum. For the museum, he reimagined a traditional nineteenth-century garment from Zeeland, the yak, as a modern garment: the Jaktrui. In creating the Jaktrui, Peters ‘wanted to communicate something from the past to the now and translate it in my own way’. The zero-waste folding technique was then used for economic reasons, but now is very relevant from a sustainability perspective.

Following his presentation was a workshop on the craft of repairing clothing. This workshop was designed based on the Reflow project aiming to share knowledge on how to rethink, repair, and revalue your wardrobe. During this workshop, attendees were encouraged to rethink items of their own clothing focusing on both aesthetic and technique in clothing repair.

• Rewatch the workshop
• Watch the instruction
• View the photos of the workshop (photo credit: Jimena Gauna)
• An impression of the local sessions from the European partners will be published on the Mingei website.
   

How heritage can shape the future

So how does the Mingei project serve to connect the past, present, and future? Inspired by the Mingei movement in Japan, which originally served as a response to Western mechanisation in the mid 1920s, the Mingei project today focuses on the digitalisation and accessibility of heritage craft, both tangible and intangible.

Through use of modern technologies like interactive Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality, Mingei seeks to tell stories not only about the craft objects themselves, but about the rituals, practice, and knowledge that accompany these objects. The application of modern technology to heritage craft can then serve to build a bridge between the past and present.

In regard to the connection between past and present, Antoine Peters notes that ‘a design or a translation now always has this reference captured in it. So you have these little bridges – in storytelling or in the visual part’. When Peters was researching the yak, he found that no documentation existed detailing its construction proces – namely, how to take one piece of fabric and fold it to create the jak. Instead, he learned the folding technique from 91-year-old craftswoman Mrs. Vos.

This mirrors a challenge that was discovered during the Mingei project: during a glassblowing pilot in Paris, there was no documentation that outlined the movements and rituals of past glassblowers. Similar to the work Peters did to understand the historical process of crafting the yak, those working on the glass pilot had to find alternate methods to learn craft heritage techniques and movements and were able to reverse-engineer steps required for glassblowing. Both Peters and the glass pilot help to further an understanding of the past while contributing valuable knowledge to the future.

Through work like the Mingei project and Peters’ collaboration with the Zeeuws Museum, modern concepts and technologies can be applied to the past in a way that creates bridges between the past and present. When talking about heritage, Peters noted that the past and present cannot be separated; that ‘it’s all connected’. Examining these connections allows us to see the thread that connects the present day with the past and tells us stories that can be leveraged to imagine the future.

Exhibition CNAM Paris

CNAM organised an exhibiton where the worlds of academics and professional activity come together. It is the only higher education establishment dedicated to life-long professional training. A dedicated space at the cathedral which is part of the museum invites you to experience the craft of glassblowing and use actual glassblowing tools.

Local webinar FORTH – Greece

FORTH organised two webinars for Mingei Day (videos are in Greek).

Mingei Day Geneva – Reenacting 3D craft people

But Mingei Day is not over yet. On 9 and 10 July MIRAlab is organising a local session for Mingei Day in Geneva during The Night of Science. The partners main goal is to assure the perennity of certain gestures and attitudes when former people were doing crafts. Through digital simulation, we can preserve the intangible heritage.

Miralab intend to present videos of the “making of” of the digital craft people who are reproducing the gestures of our 3 activities: Glass, Mastic and Silk. As well as the setup of the three pilots.

In the last four years, Waag and nine European partners and craftsmen have experimented in Mingei project by documenting and digitalising crafts, storytelling, interactive Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) and motion capture.

During this webinar on Mingei Day we would like to share and discuss the results and knowledge we gained. In four online panel discussions, experts from all over Europe will discuss and share their views on how to preserve crafts and how we can keep improving this in the future. During the webinar, participants will also have the opportunity to ask questions online.

Join the conversation! The link to the meeting will be provided to you by email. This event will be recorded.

Programme

16.00 hrs – Welcome Mingei Day – host Nicole McNeilly (Impact Evaluation Advisor Waag)
16.05 hrs – Introduction to Mingei Project (Xenophon Zabulis – Project Coordinator Mingei)
16.15 hrs – Expert panel discussion will cover the following questions:

1. What is the urgency of preserving and documenting crafts?
2. What is the impact for the craft and heritage community, education and future generations?
3. What tech advances are helping us make steps in the preservation and documentation of crafts?
4. How could the Mingei platform be useful for future users to make the impact sustainable?

17.35 hrs – Q&A from participants and recap lessons learned
17.45 hrs – Closing

Panelists

• Xenophon Zabulis – Research Director FORTH, project coordinator Mingei
• Carlo Meghini – Research Director at CNR-ISTI and developer Mingei platform
• Arnaud Dubois – Research Associate at CNAM, social anthropologist Mingei
• Eirini Kaldeli – Researcher and AI expert involved in the Crafted Europeana project
• Marinos Ioannides – UNESCO chair Digital Cultural Heritage at Cyprus University of Technology

Have a look at this episode of Euronews (Europe’s leading international news channel) dedicated to one of the many innovative ideas of Mingei that engage today’s youth with past traditions.  

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 822336.

Programme

19:15 – 19:30 hrs: Walk in
19:30 – 19:45 hrs: Introduction by Dick van Dijk (Creative Director at Waag)
19:45 – 20:15 hrs: Interview/presentation Antoine Peters
20:15 – 21:45 hrs: Workshop Reflow: Don’t let your textiles go to waste

Mingei Day

During the Mingei Day on March 10 we will provide insight into the research and applications of the Mingei project in an accessible manner. In the Mingei project, Waag works with European partners and craftsmen on ways to document traditional craft techniques. How can we use technology to preserve these crafts for the future? We do this, for example, by storytelling, interactive Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) and motion capture. This way, the knowledge about the actions of traditional and industrial crafts can be preserved. During Mingei Day, passionate craftsmen show you what their craft is, and Waag shows you how you could document them.

Do you also want our crafts and clothing not to get lost? Come to Mingei Day on 10 March. Register if you want to be physically present in Waag’s Makers Guild (limited places available) and don’t forget your broken piece of clothing! You can also join the event from home. The link for the online live stream will be shared in the run-up to the event if you sign up.

Antoine Peters

The keynote of the evening is the worldwide famous fashion designer Antoine Peters. He has worked at Viktor & Rolf and worked with iconic brands such as Marcel Wanders, Moooi, United Nude, Quinze & Milan, Effio, Eastpak, Gsus Sindustries, EYE and Kidscase. Just like in Mingei, Antoine’s working method is characterised by his interest in traditional crafts.

In his work, Peters is concerned with the stories, historical development and conservation of these types of crafts. For example, he conducted intensive research into a nineteenth century yak for the Zeeuws Museum. He learned the craft of folding such a jacket, a technique that is more than two hundred years old, from a 92-year-old woman from Middelburg. She was one of the last wearers of the Walcheren regional dress. The uncomfortable fit of the yak gave the fashion designer the idea to use the traditional technique to make a sweater from soft recycled jersey.

Workshop

The necessity of preserving crafts, and the pleasure that these crafts can offer, are made clear in the workshop ‘Don’t let your textiles go to waste’. Did you know that in Amsterdam millions of kilos of textile end up in the wrong bin and are burned? And that people have an average of 170 pieces of clothing in their closet, 50 of which have not been used in the past year?

These workshops are designed to transfer knowledge on how to reuse, repair, reduce, rethink, recycle and revalue your wardrobe. During the workshops, developed within the Reflow project, you will learn how to repair holes in your clothing by rethinking the craft of clothing repair, and re-evaluating old garments.

Online streamers can already collect the following supplies:

An item of clothing you want to repair (socks, jumpers)
Wooden Embroidery Hoop
Wooden Darning Mushroom
Mixed colours of 100% Cotton Threads
Mixed colours of 100% wool Yarn
Chalk Pencil
A set of mixed needles and metal pins Darning needles
ruler and scissors

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DigiTraining is specifically targeted to benefit small or midsize museums, as well as other tangible or intangible cultural heritage organisations, which include structures and facilities accessible to the general public.

Mingei Online Platform 

Mingei Online Platform (MOP) is an online authoring platform developed in the Mingei H2020 IA, maintained and used in additional projects by FORTH, The Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas in Greece. The Mingei Online Platform facilitates the representation of the socio-historic context through narratives.

The purpose is to:

• Document, represent, and preserve intangible dimensions along with objects and sites
• Contextualise presentation of tangible heritage
• Systematise and facilitate the presentation of socio-historical context
• Explore and promote world heritage, stimulate interest through educational and fascinating content.

Nowadays, not only the treasures of culture but also the stories, the values, and the collective memories of European citizens can be preserved and enhanced through digitalisation. This platform is a useful tool for preserving both tangible and intangible Cultural Heritage, as users are able to add  information in such an easy way, by registering both texts (historical events, dates) and multimedia material, such as images, videos, 360^ο videos, 3d reconstructions, which are interconnected, creating relevant stories and narratives. In addition, the digitalisation of Cultural Heritage in combination with the creation of stories by using Mingei Online Platform (MOP) will stimulate visitors’ interest in tangible and intangible Cultural Heritage, making museums and cultural organisations more attractive.

Pilot

After its pilot evaluation, the Mingei Online Platform was utilised by more than 80 cultural Heritage Institutes in the DigiTraining Creative Europe project, to create representations for and on their own. This activity provided immensely valuable feedback in the optimisation of its User Interface. The Mingei Online Platform (MOP) implements a protocol for the advanced digitisation of Institutes Cultural Heritage and socio-historical context, through narratives and process schemas. 

Structure of capacity building programme

The programme is structured in 3 different levels; the General Programme will provide many organisations with a combined training on digital and audiovisual technology, as well as on digital-related management. The Specific Programme will provide up to 6 organisations with mentoring through a specific training programme resulting in a strongly increased capacity in digital skills as well as in strategy and management tools to deal with them. Finally, through the Qualified Programme a maximum of 3 selected organisations will benefit at no cost from the production of a virtual or augmented reality audiovisual project specifically adapted to their mission and narrative, together with the strategic and managerial advice to best integrate it in their activities.

Combining digital technology research, execution and training

DigiTraining’s consortium is composed by an experienced team from five different countries with complementary skills and competencies to respond to the urgent need for providing specific support to the cultural and creative heritage sector. This team merges tested expertise in digital technology research, execution and training; in direct support on management and innovation for start-ups and midsize organisations; in media, communication and audience development in the cultural sector; and in audio-visual & virtual reality production for the arts and cultural heritage.

Mingei Day

During the Mingei Day webinar on 10 March the the team of FORTH will give a demo of the Mingei Online Platform. Sign up for the webinar and join the discussion! For more contact about the Digitraining Project, please leave your contact details here.

The concept of the Exhibition

The basic idea of the exhibition consists of presenting in public 84 artistic cushions from the “Is & Zhu Stathoyiannis collection” and highlighting the thematic dialoque developed between the digital artistic drawing by Ioannis Stathoyiannis (fabric printed) and the artworks of the visual artists participating in the exhibition.

The place of the Exhibition

It´s also worth noticing that experts and public are called to face a new challenge, since Ioannis Stathoyiannis´s exhibition hosted in one by definition non-museum use space, the Olympic Hotel. This situation highlights one of the groundbreaking trends of Postmodernism, and in particular, that which mentions signs-spaces of the wider urban environment as possible places of presentation cultural material, thus creating conditions of collective historical memory.

The Exhibition and the Artist

Memories, feelings and testimonies compose the identity of the ‘Is & Zhu Stathoyiannis pillows. The digital artistic drawing of Ioannis Stathoyiannis (fabric printed) escapes the decorative spirit of applied arts, or even the spirit of social census or distancing. The digital drawing of Stathoyiannis, endowed with an experiential. Symbolic and conceptual dimension, takes art to the level of concepts, ideas and even emotions that leave their material imprint on the fabric, used as a kind of canvas and a field of artistic expression.
Based on his personal interest in fabrics and textiles, his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Design, Fine and Digital Arts) Universities of Central Lancashire & Wolver Hampton) guided by his memories and travel experiences in Europe, Asia, and America, thanks to his teaching experience in China (Raffles Education Corp. Singapore) and his depth knowledge of Chinese culture and mythology, Stathoyiannis “deals” in his artworks with concepts, such as Place, Presence, Being, Identity, Crisis by expressing his thoughts, and concerns for social issues such as racism, immigration,etc. In his digital drawing, nature plays a symbolic role. There are many references to the Cretan mythology symbols.

The Collaboration with the Artists

In the framework of Ioannis Stathoyiannis´s personal exhibition an open invitation was sent to artists desiring to participate, using the fabric as the basic material of their artworks. The artists were thus invited to a conceptual interaction and to a synergy of high emotional intensity with Stathoyiannis´s digital drawing. In this exhibition, the particularity of expression and the variety of genres have been sought, according to the common objective of composing and exhibiting an artistic universe in dialogue. Works of painting and sculpture, artistic installations and constructions, animated sketches, works that combine textiles, drawing printed on fabric, fashion design, art photography, and poems make up an artistic universe of 21 plus 8 artists in conversation, dividing to four different thematic units in the exhibition.

Written by Argyro Petraki (FORTH), photography and video by Theodoros Evdemon (FORTH)

‘The RISE IMET conference gathered researchers, academics and practitioners working on emerging technologies applied in museums and cultural heritage. In the presentation, I discussed the approach for evaluation and impact assessment of digital heritage projects, which we introduced in the project Mingei, together with Merel van der Vaart, on behalf of Waag.

Evaluation of technology-mediated experiences of users qualifies as one of the most important challenges in digital heritage. Most often, evaluation approaches focus on the final product or outcome of a project. Within Mingei, Waag advocated for an approach that monitors and examines what is being learned during the project. The process of collaborative learning that takes place in working with different partners, is complex and merits to be monitored and documented as well. It is for this reason that within Mingei we introduced the concept of institutional and organisational learning.

‘Within Mingei, Waag advocated for an approach that monitors and examines what is being learned during the project.’

This means that Waag will examine, monitor and document the institutional and organisational learning that take place in the project, in addition to monitoring all utility, usability and user experience (UX) studies. We put forward an approach that draws inspiration by the Generic Learning Outcomes framework (as applied in museums and heritage sites) and the method of Team Based Inquiry. The Generic Learning Outcomes model advocates that learning can manifest itself as enjoyment, inspiration, and creativity. At the same time, Team-Based Inquiry cycles carried out by heritage and technology partners, allow to identify a pertinent question, and investigate how a program, project or activity can be readily improved.

Our work was at the origin of various questions from the session participants around articulating, combining and presenting evidence from findings around learning. Learning which occurs both as a result of using Mingei project digital outcomes, as well as learning as a multidimensional and multi-experiential outcome from getting involved in a complex, multi-disciplinary digital heritage project. You can read the abstracts of other presentations and keynote speeches of the conference here.

What is next?

Mingei plans for reaching out to like-minded digital heritage and digital media, learning and education practitioners during the annual CECA (Committee for Cultural Education and Cultural Action) Conference. This event will be hybrid and take place in Belgium and online in October 2021. The conference theme is ‘Co-creation inside and outside the museum’.’

Written by Areti Damala, freelance academic heritage researcher for Waag.

The team of Mingei Project visited the local industry and interviewed the owner Mrs. Karli Irene. In the beginning, the industry started to create fine hand-woven textiles always on woven looms. Concurrently, they constructed wooden looms, which they sold. Thus, all the cottage industries were started by them. Nowadays, the owner still maintains this craftsmanship, putting warps and selling threads to few weavers that still exist.

Since then, times have changed over the years, the development has made them study the market requirements and needs, and namely what is in high demand and what is more commercial in order to survive and to be competitive in the market. Consequently, they have started to create a variety of products that can be used by modern people, adjusting to their everyday needs. Specifically, at the moment they are producing wallets, purses, mats, aprons, and so on. All the products are made of 100 percent cotton and hand woven on the loom in a traditional way, contributing both to the preservation of this traditional job and to the strengthening of the local economy. Furthermore, at the instigation of the development association of women entrepreneurs of Crete, which often organizes exhibitions,the art of handicrafts is promoted. The industry also undertakes the equipment of hotels, weaving carpets, pillows, framed patterns and various other things in different patterns and colors, since they collaborate with interior designers.

To recapitulate, Mrs Irene Karli has succeeded in preserving a traditional job, which mainly flourished in the past, while at the same time she has tried to adjust it to the needs and requirements of modern societies, intertwining tradition with fashion.

Written by Argyro Petraki (FORTH), photography and video by Nikitas Michalakis (FORTH)

India has a long weaving tradition. Although the bulk of the country’s textile industry has been industrialised and moved to cities, the knowledge and skill of handweaving still exists in rural areas. Safeguarding this Heritage Craft takes a different form in India than it might in some European countries, for example, as a result of different heritage traditions, and unique challenges and opportunities that exist here. We spoke with Sumit Dang, director of Meraki Signature Private Limited, and Suket Dhir, fashion designer. Dang has been involved in various projects that safeguard weaving heritage through commercial practice. Dhir creates high-end menswear and womenswear designs, using primarily handwoven fabrics, sourced from and created in collaboration with expert weavers living in rural communities.

Same challenges, different contexts

Both Europe and India face the same biggest challenge in terms of Heritage Crafts. The numbers of Heritage Craft practitioners are dwindling, and the population is aging, as young people move to cities or find employment elsewhere. The big difference between Europe and India, however, is the context within which this challenge takes place. In India, this context consists of more significant rural isolation, greater socio-economic differences and cultural differences between rural communities and city dwellers. Where in Europe often local communities can maintain a craft as a hobby, or for example develop a heritage site that can facilitate the safeguarding of a Heritage Craft, this is not an option in most rural communities in India due to poverty, a lack of infrastructure and other socio-political structures. 

The solution surfacing in India is also different from that in most of Europe; it is commercial. For the case study at hand, ensuring weavers receive fair and regular pay for their heritage products is the best way to safeguard this particular Heritage Craft. A good example of a company working in this model is Jaipur Rugs, a company specialising in producing heritage rugs for a global market. This family business works closely with weaving communities and international designers. The needs and traditions of rural communities have shaped the company’s business model. 

Traditionally, rural weavers learn the craft within their community, often from a very young age. Weaving is generally one of various means of income, with agricultural work often being another important source of food and income for a family. Men and women weave at home alongside their other duties and children learn in this family context. However, contemporary child labour laws and the country’s experiences regarding this issue hinder this traditional way of learning how to weave. Children are not allowed to help out in the family business. As a result, the way families hand down knowledge and skills is interrupted. 

A cottage industry for a global market

Dang identifies two main requirements with regards to safeguarding hand weaving. First, hand weaving needs to provide attractive job prospects. Secondly, there needs to be a robust market for the products that are being produced. Needless to say, these two requirements influence each other. Of course, many Heritage Crafts have developed as a means of creating an income, but in the European heritage field this commercial side of Heritage Craft is sometimes problematised or even ignored. Taking a commercial approach, while respecting the heritage of a craft, can lead to different choices and solutions. 

For example, Dang emphasises the importance of focusing on those opportunities that are likely to yield commercial success. For a Heritage Craft to be monetised, it will need to be able to find a solid (international) market, as well as have a unique heritage quality. If there’s a good likelihood both can be achieved, it will be possible to gather the financial investment that is necessary to connect the producer(s) with the market. Therefore, it is important to understand the traditions and potential of the different Heritage Craft Communities. In addition, it is important to analyse the challenges they face when it comes to developing a market for their product. 

As many weavers live remotely, attention must be paid to creating infrastructures for knowledge exchange, source materials and finished products, and distributing finances. Jaipur Rugs has set up a small number of weaving hubs, where weavers can come together to weave, creating one physical space where information, materials and money can be exchanged. However, most weavers did not want to give up their traditional way of working, which traditionally is at home and planned around other activities and care responsibilities. This obviously greatly influences the infrastructure that is needed. Some weavers create their own designs, others work together with (international) designers. Designers need to understand the traditions, possibilities and boundaries of an individual weaver to create a suitable design. Weavers who work with designers can often earn more money, because they create a product that is in higher demand. When an end product is of higher quality, it often requires more time to produce, but it will also fetch a higher price.

Raising awareness

Handmade products cost more than those produced by machine and in India, where mass-produced woven products are readily available and where craft is often associated with charity, marketing Heritage Craft products can be challenging. Cutting out the ‘middleman’ or working with experienced distributors can help bring the cost down while maintaining fair wages for the weavers at the same time. However, most important, according to Dang, is to raise awareness amongst customers. Explaining the unique qualities of Heritage Craft products is key. The argument that handwoven materials are more expensive will not convince customers to pay the extra price. What are they getting ‘extra’ when they buy Heritage Craft textiles? 

In marketing Heritage Crafts, Dang suggests focusing on tradition, the human touch, the physical quality, the story behind the product and the fact it cannot be made by machine. Neither producers nor designers are necessarily good at building a brand. Therefore, it is important to invest in gaining this skill. A successful brand is not carried by one or two people, but exists within an ecosystem of people with different practical and commercial skills. It is crucial that the Heritage Craft Community is part of this ecosystem. Jaipur Rugs invests in training local community members and grassroots leaders to achieve this. Finally, creating a strong online presence, including background stories, images and videos can help people to familiarise potential customers with a brand.

Designing with handwoven fabrics

Suket Dhir sources all his textiles from India and 70% of the textiles he uses are woven on handlooms. This has a direct impact on the price of his products. His designs are high-end, but also designed to be worn for a lifetime, to be heirlooms and handed down. Or, as his grandmother used to say: “Buy little, buy good.” For this reason, Dhir focuses on creating designs that have personality, but can be worn to various occasions and are made to last. A certain romanticism can come with working with handwoven materials, but in order to build a successful business, pragmatism is also important. Therefore, Dhir focuses particularly on using handwoven materials when they can only be made using a handloom. Fabrics that can be produced by machines should continue to be made by machines. Handlooms would not be able to meet global demands and focusing on the techniques that are unique to handlooms helps preserve them.

The risk of guilt

When working with comparatively poor rural communities, it is often easy to act on a feeling of guilt. Dhir describes how the first time he worked with weavers from West Bengal, he was so focused on giving people a fair wage, he offered double the price they were used to getting. He was advised not to do it, but felt it was the right thing to do. He was surprised to find his first shipment was late and when he went to visit the weavers to see what was causing the delay, he was met by an angry wife. Now her husband earned twice as much for the same work, he only worked for half the time, meaning his production was falling behind and he had more spare time in which he could spend his money. For the family, this was not a positive change at all. This experience was an eye opener for Dhir and since that time he has noticed that guilt is often also used in sales further down the line. Paying a fair price for a product is often framed as ‘charity’. Many campaigns for fair fashion focus on the people making the clothes, and play into a feeling of guilt with the buyer: The poor weaver deserves a fair wage. But, as Dhir puts it: “There’s no improvement to the livelihood of the person who makes your clothes just because you see a picture of them.” What’s more, this approach ignores the mastery and skill a weaver has developed. This is why Dhir believes in focusing on the quality of the craft and creating high-end made-to-last pieces with high quality fabrics.

Many rural communities create their own distinctive weaves that can only be created on a handloom. Dhir sees potential to elevate these weaves and give them a cult-like status. Just like, for example, Japanese samurai swords have gained a recognisable status, resulting in people being willing to spend the money for an original, handmade sword. This is, as Dhir sees it, another way of building a ‘brand’. How can one present their traditional craft in a way that translates its traditional value into monetary value? 

At the same time, it is important to contemporise fabrics. Traditional weaving methods can be maintained while using more contemporary colours, for example. Dhir advocates celebrating the craft, the making, which he sees as distinctly different from the often-used trope of empathy, especially in the context of charity. The people making the products will come and go, but the craft, the art, will remain as long as it is passed down. Dhir believes focusing on the inherent quality of the craft can provide better chances of gaining a fair price for a product. If the craft itself is elevated to a cult-like status, there will always be people interested in learning it. The craft would not have to rely on children following in their parents’ footsteps, something that will inevitably become rarer over time. 

His biggest challenge now is to reach a global audience that might be interested in his designs. Where cheaper brands can rely more on online sales, handwoven materials need to be touched to convey their quality and value. There is an untapped potential in the longstanding heritage of handweaving in India which could fuel the birth of true luxury brands.

Based on an interview with Sumit Dang, director of Meraki Signature Private Limited, conducted on 30 September 2020, and Suket Dhir, fashion designer and winner of the   International Woolmark Prize 2015-16 on 12 April 2021.