Self-production and craft: advanced processes for social innovation

This paper analyzes some self-production and craft processes which can contribute to social innovation. Object of this research is the concept of self-production, considered as a humancentered design process held by a designer-maker who, working within a community of artisans or a platform of digital fabrication, manages the entire process, from design, to production, distribution and communication. This research covers a broad spectrum of material that relates to the changing landscape within the design world and beyond, drawing the heterogeneity and complexity of self-production. Diverse approaches developed in the contemporary design scene have been mapped, defining new relationships and highlighting peculiarities, strengths and weaknesses. Linking these diverse approaches is the new role of the designer, who embraces wider areas and acts as catalyst of social innovation, actively involving diverse actors in the design process. Such a figure embodies both the designer’s knowledge and the maker’s know-how, implementing either artisan productions or digital fabrications, shared within a close relationship with craft communities or virtual platforms for Do-It-Yourself. Self-production seems to be not an anachronistic situation, but an interesting opportunity, which addresses the increasing demand for flexible and diversified productions, able to connect local realities with global markets. Such an approach seems to provide young designers with a viable opportunity to start from the bottom, opening up new start-ups on their own to counter the current crisis of the work world. Design can be a key guide for transforming the current scenario into an advanced craftsmanship. It has to rescue its social and economic relevance and foster local innovative initiatives that seek social innovation and sustainable development of a territory.