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Short abstract

This paper examines how textile tool selection and use, shape the transmission of embodied knowledge in educational contexts and makerspaces. By exploring their impact on preserving, adapting, and transforming crafts, it highlights their active role in skill transmission.

Long abstract

This paper explores how tools within textiles shape and structure the transmission of embodied knowledge in educational institutions and makerspaces in Flanders (Belgium). Weaving, knitting, and sewing are tied to tacit and embodied practices. They rely on tools, not only as enablers of production, but also as mediators in teaching and learning.

Drawing on interviews and observations within educational contexts and makerspaces, this study examines how tools mediate the transmission of embodied textile knowledge. In both formal and informal contexts, tools shape interactions, structure learning processes, and foster knowledge exchange through their material characteristics, availability, and shared use. In this context, the selection and properties of tools reflect underlying values and actively influence how textile practices are preserved, adapted, or transformed.

The research situates tool selection within broader cultural and material frameworks, addressing questions of what knowledge is preserved, how it is transmitted, and what may be unwritten. By tracing how tools mediate as an active agent, this paper reveals some values and assumptions embedded in craft pedagogy and practice.

Ultimately, the paper argues that tools in textile production are far from neutral. They not only determine the forms of transmission but also participate in unwriting, reshaping how textile knowledge is understood, valued, and carried forward. Through this lens, the research contributes to the ongoing dialogue about how materiality and practice influence safeguarding and transmission of crafts.