About

Building on prior work into the cultural role of artisanship and makerspaces, this research focuses on the potential role of craft programmes to promote and enable cultures of sustainability.  The project aims to understand UK craft ecologies in relation to sustainable behaviours, to establish how a maker literacy for sustainability transition can be developed and integrated into specific social and cultural contexts. The research focuses on the existing craft ecosystem in the Devon area, aiming to also to provide clarity on how maker initiatives cope with the environmental crisis, how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their approach, and how the participation in such initiatives influences everyday material cultures. It is expected that an understanding of the Devon maker social context will provide deeper insights on how knowledge is generated through making and will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the role culture plays in sustainability and environmental discourse. These results will establish a framework for implementing and evaluating programme(s) for craft-led pro-sustainability change.