Creative Craft Platform
2020-ongoing
Joint project with curator Lydia Chatziiakovou
Mapping - Connecting - Reactivating Crafts
A tool to:
Reimagine crafts in the post-industrial society.
Build Creative Communities and Networks around Crafts.
Bring back the value of human labour.
CCP aims to reveal and reactivate the potential of crafts as a socially, culturally and economically sustainable form of production, especially for creative ideas, in the post-industrial era. CCP perceives crafts as an absolutely contemporary practice that brings together the past, the present and the future. This approach not only contributes to preserving crafts — that in many places are disappearing together with the know-how accumulated through generations. Moreover, it offers the basis for reimagining crafts as a valuable means of production.
Based on an art-for-social-change approach, CCP offers tools to:
Establish networks and communities of crafts and creatives in different localities.
Create a collective dynamic archive of craft culture through participatory action research.
Provide a platform for creatives to think and take action on the potential of crafts.
Bring together creative cumulative actions to build a basis for institutions to introduce policies around crafts.
Document the transformation of crafts’ know-how in the contemporary context.
CCP consists of two main elements, Craft Net (digital) and Craft Hub (physical), which activate participation, critical reflection and collective action around crafts involving different stakeholders - artists, creatives, institutions and policy-makers.
Creative Craft Platform Elements
Craft Net (digital tool for mapping and generating content around crafts)
A dynamic tool to map the hidden craft studios in the city with a participatory research approach, share the data gathered in a digital open-source map, and establish a transnational network and community between cities, institutions, creatives and craftsmen.
Craft Net’s mission is to:
Map crafts studios in different cities through participatory action research.
Bring visibility to craft studios in the city through interactive Craft Maps.
Showcase the value of crafts through experimental productions.
Offer a tool for local stakeholders (creatives, craftspeople, local administration and citizen initiatives) to facilitate their communication and collaboration.
Encourage creatives to collaborate with craftsmen to produce their artistic ideas.
Build a sustainable –socially, culturally, financially– production model for creatives and craftspeople.
Generate meaningful contemporary content on crafts.
Establish an expanding, organically growing dynamic network/community of crafts in different cities.
Craft Net includes:
Craft Research App
Digital tool for participatory action research on crafts
Mapping introduces creatives to the local crafts ecosystem and to new production possibilities. During field research, creatives document the local crafts heritage and changing role in society, which encourages them to reflect on culture, history, transforming material production and sustainability. The Research App is designed as a field research tool that generates valuable content. It enables researchers to: take pictures/videos of masters, studios, tools, productions; record sound (interviews and sounds of the studios, tools, craft streets, dialogues); take coordinates (locate craft studios on a map); fill in a template questionnaire (collect data about crafts, create a dialogue between craftsmen and creatives); generate a map of each research route.
Craft Map
Digital archive and map of crafts
An interactive online map of crafts in different cities.
A visualisation of the data collected via the Craft Research App.
A valuable resource for researchers interested in producing with craftsmen, as well as for academic researchers looking into the history of the city through its production networks.
A growing network of crafts/cities/creative production possibilities around the world.
Craft Mag
Digital media on crafts
A resource for generating and promoting the discussion around the value of crafts in the post-industrial context. Featuring artistic and creative content —videos, sounds, stories, texts, case studies— on crafts for the dissemination of research and strengthening of the community.
Craft Researches carried out so far:
Istanbul, in collaboration with craftedinistanbul and Bilgi University
Ayvalik, in collaboration with Gate 27
Thessaloniki, in collaboration with ArtBOX, LABattoir and Goethe-Institut
Skopje, in collaboration with Kontrapunkt - KRIK Festival
Prizren, in collaboration with Dokufest
Upcoming researches:
Berlin, in collaboration with Berlin International University of Applied Sciences
Craftsmanship in Ayvalik, 2020, map, printed, p. 1
Craftsmanship in Ayvalik, 2020, map, printed, p. 2
Pilot project, craftedinistanbul
Pilot project, craftedinistanbul
Craft Hub (collective studio)
A co-production space with strong social identity, where the traditional crafts studio meets the maker space / fab-lab.
Craft Hub’s activities revolve around a central production space, putting emphasis on the social aspects of production and labour.
Craft Hub:
Gathers in one space analogue and digital production equipment and tools, creating a hybrid space.
Fosters collaborations between designers and craftsmen through production-based activities, workshops, residencies and exhibitions that join craftsmen and designers.
Unites people around production, sharing of know-how and informal learning across different disciplines and generations and social groups.
Enables information sharing, co-learning through experimenting, blending materials, tools, techniques and equipment in novel ways, to create innovative products and experiences.
Projects:
Collective studio at Bogazici University (established in 2010)
Collective studio concept developed for IBB - Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, in the context of the city’s new Design Centre that is currently under construction (2020-21).
Craft Hub overview sketch - elements & activation
Craft Hub - Engagement of Creatives & Craftsmen
Craft Hub - Role of the Craftsman
Craft Hub - Collective Studio Units
Craft Hub - Function of collective studio
Craft Hub - Collective Studio App
Pilot Lab developed for IBB - Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality - Units & Elements
Pilot Lab developed for IBB - Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality - Units & Elements
Pilot Lab developed for IBB - Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality - Setup scenario 1
Pilot Lab developed for IBB - Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality - Setup scenario 2
Pilot Lab developed for IBB - Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality - Setup scenario 3
Background project, Collective Studio at Bogazici University
Creative Craft Agency
Consultancy services to arts, culture, education and policy-making institutions interested in craft research, public engagement and sustainable production possibilities.
Research & Production Workshops
Participatory research and co-production activating creative thinking and action around crafts and artistic research, city dynamics and alternative histories, sustainability, labour and local production possibilities etc.
Research Workshops introduce participatory research on crafts, activating creatives to discover crafts’ potential for creative thinking and production in the post-industrial era. Using Craft Net’s Research App, participants map local craftsmen and collectively create a crafts map of the city. During the mapping process, participants explore local craft studios and the production possibilities they offer. Additionally, through their interaction with crafts, participants are introduced to an alternative history of the city as well as to traditional materials, tools and techniques. During the mapping, participants collect objects, sounds and stories from the mapped studios, that they present at the end of the workshop. This material is used to create a light-shadow-sound installation that visualises the research and disseminates the results to local publics.
Taking the Research Workshop experiences one step further, Production Workshops offer creatives the opportunity to imagine and produce experimental products in the city’s craft studios. A pilot region-space-subject is chosen, which responds to the needs of the city in public space. Participants are invited to submit their ideas. Submitted ideas are revised in consultation with the project coordinators and experts, so that they can be produced using existing craft techniques. Afterwards, creative actors and craftsmen work together to bring selected ideas to life. Each production process is documented, and a short production video is created describing this valuable collaboration and interaction with the craftsmen. Local creative professionals are involved in all steps of documentation, editing, soundtrack, thus triggering a creative, multi-coloured, collective production in the city.
Realised Research & Production Workshops:
Thessaloniki, 2018-2019, Design, Mapping and Production workshop of Mobile Stage in collaboration with ArtBOX, LABattoir project and Goethe-Institut
Skopje, 2022, Participatory Mapping workshop with local creatives, Residency at Kontrapunkt - KRIK Festival
Istanbul, 2022-23, Participatory Mapping, Bilgi University Visiting Designer lecture series
Berlin, 2023, Participatory Mapping, Berlin International University of Applied Sciences
Creative-Craft Residency Programme
Possibility for international artists to experiment with the conceptualisation and realisation of their ideas through their interaction with Istanbul’s craft studios.
In collaboration with Gate 27
The first artist (2022), Mahzaib Baloch from Pakistan spent two months in Istanbul, exploring the city's craft culture and its imprint on the urban landscape. As a result, she produced her work “Ro-thag” (meaning root in Baluchi) together with Thomas Usta, one of the city's best and oldest repousse Master. “Ro-thag” incorporates various interpretations and reinterpretations in contemporary terms of traditional patterns, materials and techniques. The tree of life from Baluchi prayer carpets is drawn by the artist in her own visual language, then transferred by the Master on copper, and later reappropriated again by the artist who continues the Master's version of her own sketch. The two elements —repoussed copper and painted paper— full of interconnected meanings, knowledge and interactions, are installed side by side in one frame that encompasses different times, places, traditions and generations.
Production assistant: Emir Uysal
Design & Production Management
Collaboration with artists and institutions for the production of art and design objects in Istanbul’s craft studios.
Field Research on existing objects and production techniques.
Prototyping: Design and production of a new object using current craft techniques.
3D Modelling: Adaptation of the artist’s design to the requested size and form through existing materials and production techniques.
Production Management: Managing the production process, material supply, logistic and controlling the quality of production.
Projects:
2020, design & production management of artist Nevin Aladag’s “Corner Bells”, commissioned by Galeri Nev, Istanbul, realised with the involvement of 13 craft studios
2014, production management of artist Aziz Tavil’s “Fakir”, commissioned by the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennale
Production sketch for "Corner Bells" by Nevin Aladag, 2020
Production sketch for "Corner Bells" by Nevin Aladag, 2020
Production process for "Corner Bells" by Nevin Aladag, 2020
Production process for "Corner Bells" by Nevin Aladag, 2020
Production process for "Corner Bells" by Nevin Aladag, 2020
"Corner Bells" by Nevin Aladag, 2020, installation view, Galeri Nev Istanbul
"Fakir" by Aziz Tavil, 2014, commissioned by the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennale
Production process for "Fakir" by Aziz Tavil, 2014, commissioned by the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennale
Production process for "Fakir" by Aziz Tavil, 2014, commissioned by the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennale
Production process for "Fakir" by Aziz Tavil, 2014, commissioned by the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennale
Production process for "Fakir" by Aziz Tavil, 2014, commissioned by the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennale
Production process for "Fakir" by Aziz Tavil, 2014, commissioned by the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennale