Contribution short abstract:

This article explores crafts and modern gender associations, questioning the extent to which technology has allowed both new forms of innovation and gender integration.

Contribution long abstract:

Defining the concept of ‘craft’ is not only a recurring issue within recent scholarly debate (Sennet, 2008; Mignosa & Kotipalli, 2019), but is also further complicated by divergent etymological meanings of the concept in different European languages. Furthermore, in some languages, such as Latvian and Icelandic, there are different words for crafts performed by men and crafts practiced by women. A specific craft is therefore linguistically and thus inherently linked to gender. Although there are seemingly no gender distinctions in today's economy and all professions are in principle open to and practiced by both men and women, gender segregation still seems to exist within the craft sector. Indeed, while modern views are less restrictive, gender associations still influence how crafts are perceived in different cultures. This article explores the latter through a case study on textile crafts in Iceland and examines the extent to which technology, which enables new forms of craft by combining traditional techniques with digital tools such as 3D printing, laser cutting and digital weaving, has enabled new forms of innovation and gender integration.