Crafting Futures is a global British Council programme building a positive future by unlocking craft’s unique potential to inspire people around the globe. The programme celebrates the value of craft in our history, culture and world today.
Through making and international collaboration, Crafting Futures brings together craft practitioners, designers and organisations from around the world to explore possibilities for this future together.
Launched in Romania in 2020, Crafting Futures brings together six craft professionals from the United Kingdom and organisations, designers, artists and craftivists in Romania, aiming to support the development of shared learning and traditional, sustainable craft and design practice.
The Crafting Futures, held online from May to August, aimed to encourage conversations on the role and future of traditional crafts and to kickstart collaboration between UK craft designers, artists and researchers and local partners who support and promote traditional crafts and sustainable design practices in Romania. The programme will be continued with a working visit to Romania, rescheduled for 2021, as well as through digital activations meant to celebrate craft in a contemporary context.
The UK Crafting Futures participants are Annemarie O'Sullivan, a contemporary basket maker from East Sussex who uses and researches traditional British techniques; Anoushka Cole, researcher and creator of materials with a focus on organic resources and waste reduction; Carol Carey, Creative Director for Somerset Art Works, with over 20 years of experience in design, public art and urban / spatial design; Dorit Young, designer and founder of Clothes Clinic and designer of couture hats, passionate about sustainable fashion and the preservation of craft heritage; Gareth Neal, internationally renowned furniture designer known for the innovative combination of high-end manufacturing technologies with traditional techniques; Lola Lely, a multidisciplinary London artist whose work highlights processes and narratives that combine contemporary practices with traditional techniques.
The local partners in the Crafting Futures project are Andreea Machidon, architect and designer within the Pro Patrimonio foundation and developer of the Honest Goods collection; Andrei Georgescu, former manager of Mestesukar Butiq and currently manager of Corizom, an international creative program; Marlene Stanciu, craftivist and researcher passionate about ruralism and slow design, founder of KraftMade; Oana Neneciu and Loredana Pană, coordinators of DeltaCraft, a collaborative platform that supports crafts in the Danube Delta; Corina Bucea, project manager at Cluj Cultural Center, representing the Remarkable Romania programme; Teodor Frolu, architect and activist passionate about heritage, representing Patzaikin, an initiative that develops design products that showcase craft traditions of the Danube Delta, as well as the national platform Creative Traditions.
Find out more about Annemarie O'Sullivan, Carol Carey, DeltaCraft, Dorit Young, Gareth Neal and KraftMade.
The project is curated and organized by the British Council Romania together with The Institute and Cluj Cultural Center.
https://www.britishcouncil.ro/en/programmes/arts/crafting-futures