The role of digital technologies in contemporary craft practice from UK–China insights

Digital technologies such as digital production and online marketplaces have generated revenue growth and sustained work in the music and game creative industries. However, there is little research on how digital technologies impact contemporary craft. Here we present the results of a twenty-month AHRC research project which explored the role of digital technologies for craft in China and the United Kingdom. The research was undertaken prior to the mass adoption of online tools such as videoconferencing, which became necessary due to enforced social distancing during the recent pandemic. It provides an account of the craft ecosystems in China and the United Kingdom as they started to embrace digital technologies – ecosystems which inevitably evolved with craftmakers’ enforced migration online. This article reports on mixed-methods research stakeholder surveys, workshops and quick ethnographic studies conducted to capture how digital technologies were used across the craft making journey from Planning and Inspiration through Materials and Preparation to Production and Making. Comparing the differences and similarities between China and the United Kingdom enables us to better understand the potential of digital technologies for craft. For example, live streaming, an emerging digital technology at the time of the research, was already a popular way for craftmakers to engage broad audiences in China, whilst UK craftmakers tended to use personal websites, e-mails and newsletters. Craftmakers’ knowledge has necessarily shifted to encompass the digital, often at the expense of precious making time. On the one hand, digital tools and processes of the Fourth Industrial Revolution have transformed many craft skills from making by hand to making by computer; on the other hand, social media and online marketplaces have changed the relationship between craftmakers and consumers and may shape which crafts flourish in the future.