Paper short abstract:

The paper introduces the Maker's Chain as a conceptual tool to recognize craft in making with digital fabrication combined with traditional techniques. The extent to which something is an object of craft is determined through interpretation of each link in the chain and of the chain as a whole.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper we explore how the tradition of craft can be re-visited to assist a move beyond 3D-printed objects. While digital technology and 3D printing offer precise tools for the repetitive and precise manufacturing of objects we argue that the closeness to "the materials at hand", and as such a vital aspect of craftsmanship, is lost at moment.

Through practical design cases we illustrate how we have experimented with ways of re-introducing craftsmanship in the making of 3D-printed objects, as an opportunity and as a necessity for moving forward.

Based on our work in this project we suggest a way of theorizing making as "chains of material transformations". Each link in a maker's chain is described in terms of the risk and certainty of the transformation and whether it deals with digital or physical materiality. We argue that the objects of making can be recognized as objects of craft by looking at the individual links and the chain as a whole.

In order to analyze these links and chains we have used David Pye ́s (1968) notions of "workmanship of risk" and "workmanship of certainty".

Based on this analytical work we suggest that the fundamental idea introduced by Donald Schön that design is "a conversation with the material" is fundamentally challenged when digital technologies stand in the way of direct conversation with materials. Also, we challenge this separation between the hand and the object being designed by combining digital and physical tools and materials in the process of making.