Opinion / Naomi Xu Elegant
Woven together
The line between craft and design is blurry. But for Yun Fan Chang, co-founder of Taiwan’s Kamaro’an studio, they aren’t as separate as they’re often made out to be. “Both are about making objects that are good to use but from different entry points,” says Chang. There are, of course, crucial differences: design is “more rational” and necessary to produce objects at scale, while craft is “more emotional and culture-oriented”. The trick is to bring these aspects into play with each other, rather than set them apart.
While industrial designers might seek durable materials that are suitable for mass production, artisans typically remain dedicated to whatever was used traditionally. Often, however, these turn out to be the same thing: for example, the Taiwan-made canvas and the natural dyes made from wild Shoulang yam.
Rather than a top-down approach in which designers tell artisans what they want, Kamaro’an, which works with craftsmen from various indigenous Taiwanese tribes and trained in traditional skills, operates collaboratively and its founders spend as much time researching and studying as they do designing and marketing. Their blended approach results in pieces such as the Riyar light, a hanging lamp made from hand-woven umbrella sedge that fans out and undulates like ocean waves. In the tribal village, the masterful weaving technique is confined to making sturdy floor mats; at Kamaro’an, it is used to create a stunning geometric centrepiece.
For Kamaro’an, indigenous craftsmanship is more than just a borrowed aesthetic or surface-level consideration. Traditional materials, methods and the makers themselves are central to the endeavour and define its boundaries. Design considerations, in turn, help to move artisan labour beyond a gruelling “piece by piece” operation and open up more opportunities for the production process.
“The word ‘design’ comes from ‘de-sign’, which means marking out an object from other things and making it meaningful for people,” says Chang. “It needs to have resonance, so it’s based on culture and humanity. That explains why design and craft are the same for us.” The work of Kamaro’an is a reminder that the two concepts have much to offer each other, especially when combined – an outlook that large-scale manufacturers and small-scale makers would be wise to consider.
Naomi Xu Elegant is a writer at Monocle and a regular contributor to ‘Monocle On Design’.
