Women Crafting Today: A Literature Review

Abstract

There is a vast body of research exploring the roles women can contribute to design creation and crafting. In the past, historical studies have paid attention to the role of women in the applied and decorative arts, more than the role of women in design and technologies, giving men a more significant role in the manufacturing technological dimension. In recent years, the consumers, as well as the designers' interest in handcrafting has grown in popularity in Europe, the USA, and finally also in Asia, for many different reasons worldwide showing a rich phenomenology. Craft exhibitions, fairs, shows, and web platforms (like Etsy.com) have been making echoes to the century Arts and Crafts movement. This new craft movement, characterized by a growing community of young women, has also been seen as a political phenomenon with some aspects related to a third wave feminist do-it-yourself. Beyond the political aspects, women crafting has been acquired more and more considerable cultural, social, and commercial values. In this article, we present a systematic analysis of the rich phenomenology of contemporary women crafting with the support of available evidence-based literature concerning the role of women in today's and future design and production. We organize our findings into clusters describing the key roles that women play in design creation and crafting. We also put a light on the future design connecting women thinking and craft sensibility to new technologies (like 3D or 4D printing ).