This symposium brings together a number of entrepreneurs, designers and experts to explore the ways contemporary design is responding to a desire to work with heritage craft techniques, as well as to engage with unique communities on the verge of loosing their traditional ways of life and bodies of knowledge.

The concept of “slow design” has often been used to indicate both non-industrial modes of making as well as reduced forms of consumer consumption. By looking at alternative ways of making, designers can gain access to insights about sustainable ecologies, uses of natural materials and other models for organizing labor. Furthermore, they can access to the increased quality and to aesthetic potential inherent in hand-made techniques.

Designers can thus bridge these forms of making and the demands of modern market – which is a challenging task – and questions of framing, value and viability are crucial.

Today in China there is a rapidly growing interest in conserving and developing the craft sector. It has been prompted by increased understanding of the future economic value that cultural diversity and heritage bring to specific contexts.

“Thinking by Hand” will offer a forum to incubate new ideas for working with craft – with a focus on textiles – and ask questions such as: What is the role of craft in the future of design beyond the globalization and homogenization of culture? What lessons can be learned from craft techniques that draw close to the environment and local landscape?

What impact does the preservation of craft production have on communities? What new enterprise models are emerging?