ABSTRACT
This paper highlights that craft-design cooperation is essential to the dialogue between tradition and innovation in theatric manifestations in the North of Portugal. Presently, financial and social issues forced theatre companies to downsize the creative process, namely withdrawing from the culture of drawing, sketching, and craftwork. It has also reduced theater design solutions by designers. On the other hand, artisans are becoming older and fewer. New generations are increasingly distanced from handicrafts. The combination of these factors compromises the representation and conveyance of the identity of a region. A model based on design-by-drawing and craft-evolution will connect new methodologies. This chapter main focus is to present craft-design collaboration as an opportunity to reinterpret a model based on local traditions. This research is supported by design research, productive reasoning, and system design, connecting conventional methods with new techniques. Emphasizing design culture as a process that is always a redesign, the authors present a historical approach to theater design in Portugal since the beginning of the twentieth century. Highlighting craft and design as a shared learning opportunity, scenography becomes a cultural mediator for design innovation. This paper constitutes a creative approach relating design, craftwork, and theatre design, bridging the gap between tradition and innovation.
