The Organization of Craft Work

This edited book focuses on the organization and meaning of craft work in contemporary society. It considers the relationship between craft and place and how this enables the construction of a meaningful relationship with objects of production and consumption. The book explores the significance of raw materials, the relationship between the body, the crafted object and the mind, and the importance of skill, knowledge and learning in the making process. Through this, it raises important questions about the role of craft in facing future challenges by challenging the logic of globalized production and consumption.
The Organization of Craft Work encompasses international analyses from the United States, France, Italy, Australia, Canada, the UK and Japan involving a diverse range of sectors, including brewing, food and wine production, clothing and shoe making, and perfumery. The book will be of interest to students and academic researchers in organization studies, marketing and consumer behaviour, business ethics, entrepreneurship, sociology of work, human resource management, cultural studies, geography, and fashion and design. In addition, the book will be of interest to practitioners and organizations with an interest in the development and promotion of craft work.

Emma Bell is Professor of Organisation Studies at The Open University, UK. Gianluigi Mangia is Professor of Organization Studies at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy, and Head of Department of Management, Organizations and Human Resources at the Scuola Nazionale dell'Amministrazione (SNA) in Rome, Italy. Scott Taylor is Reader in Leadership and Organization Studies at University of Birmingham, UK. Maria Laura Toraldo is a Postdoctoral Research Assistant and Lecturer at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Lugano, Switzerland.

Introduction: Understanding contemporary craft work Emma Bell, Maria Laura Toraldo, Scott Taylor and Gianluigi Mangia 1. Craft in Japan Robin Holt and Yutaka Yamauchi 2. Crafted in America: from culture to profession Shelby Solomon and Blake Mathias 3. Wine, the authenticity taste regime and rendering craft Jennifer Smith Maguire 4. Organising the home as making space: crafting scale, identity, and boundary contestation Susan Luckman and Jane Andrew 5. Smells like craft spirit: craft as empowerment and social movement in niche perfumery Claus Noppeney and Nada Endrissat 6. Deploying social memory for international recognition: the role of place and tradition in an Italian silk tie maker Maria Laura Toraldo, Stefano Consiglio and Gianluigi Mangia 7. Back to the brewster: craft brewing, gender and the dialectical interplay of retraditionalisation and innovation Chris Land, Neil Sutherland and Scott Taylor 8. Craft as a contested term: meaning diversities between entrepreneurs and consumers in the craft-brewing industry Nadine Waehning, Maria Karampela and Juho Pesonen 9. Making livelihoods within communities of practice: the place of guild organisations in the craft sector Nicola J. Thomas and Doreen Jakob 10. The cordwainers lair: contingency in bespoke shoemaking Robert Ott 11. Craft as resistance: a conversation about craftivism, embodied enquiry and craft-based methodologies Ann Rippin and Sheena J. Vachhani 12. Being maker-centric: making as method for self-organization and achieving craft impact in local communities and economies Fiona Hackney, Deirdre Figueiredo, Laura Onions, Gavin Rogers and Jana Milovanovic 13. Reflecting on the relationship between craft and history: perspectives, resources and contemporary implications Richard Blundel