ABSTRACT
In this part, craft is examined as embodied making, thinking, and learning. The chapters in this part offer a ground for theorizing craft and design practice from an embodied perspective through various concepts in embodied cognition (EC). The part starts with Chapter 1 “Dynamic Affordances in Human-Material ‘Dialogues’” by craft practitioner-researcher Camilla Groth and cognitive scientist Michael Kimmel who examine the role of affordances in the craft and design discourse. Through a case example of clay throwing, the chapter demonstrates how one of the authors, an experienced ceramicist, maintains the integrity of the throwing process by keeping affordances intact through respecting the material’s constraints, while searching for and creating new affordances. Affordances offer an analytical lens on how the craft practitioner regulates creative processes. In Chapter 2 “Craft thinking: A Relational Approach to Making and Design”, philosopher Ingar Brinck sets the stage for bodily intelligence and introduces how it has been discussed in cognitive sciences in relation to crafts and physical actions. By placing collaboration with the material in the centre, she relates thinking and intelligence to actions performed by hand. The chapter approaches nonverbal craft thinking within the framework of embodied and embedded cognition. It illuminates how craft thinking takes place in the making process when the maker uses their hands and body to critically engage with materials and handle problems occurring in the process, such as uncertainty, insufficient information, and insufficient quality within the craft making process.
