We cannot discuss about natural material-based crafts or practices without talking about the natural material and nature itself. Craft and design are material-based practices that cannot be studied and researched without the full understanding of the whole network they are part of.
Craft has environmental, social, cultural and material values. It also has the knowledge of how to interact with the ecosystem during the process of crating. Craft can teach design how to interact and create a community with a culture in which humans and nature coexist.
Ingold (2000) says that art, (which I extend to all creative practices), should be understood as a way of probing more deeply into the world (landscape) and discovering the significance that lies there. Craft and design are practices that have the possibility to communicate through and about humans, as well as through and about objects, techniques, materials, and landscapes; they can also be comprehended and studied through and by different perspectives. Craft and design can be interpreted as a process too, as an experience through materials, and as a way of thinking; they are always in motion, not static, and they can interact with and transcend other disciplines.
Howard Risatti (2007), art theorist, historian and author, describes craft (I will add design too) as social implications. He states that craft’s understanding is in the hand and in the dialogue it has with the material during the process; he says that this interaction is what shapes our conception and attitudes towards things and societies. Additionally, Risatti says that the human values are reflected through craft, design and fine art, and he defines this as the social life of craft objects.
Twentieth century Japanese craft promoter, Sōetsu Yanagi (1927) says that humans and their work should be free and friendly to nature, rather than trying to master; and given that (raw) material comes from nature, then craft becomes a synonym of natural material, relying its value in the interconnection that exists between these two. Due to the fact that it is nature, local nature, the one that shapes craft, he points that, “May we not accept crafts as generally being local? Crafts are born where the necessary raw materials are found. The closer we are to nature the safer we are [...]”. It is of course possible that we have been studying these interactions and relationships wrongly, believing that it is the human act --that is, design and craft--, the main activity which has humans interacting and creating artefacts that will relate to context and culture, taking nature some part in this process. When the main actors are the interactions and exchanges that exist between human and nonhuman, which then, through process will create landscapes that embody culture and communities. There will be a balance between taking from nature and creating with nature emphasizing our co-existence with nonhumans under one culture and as one community.
If we take the example of crafts, there is an appreciation and skill which require time and thought. Likewise, there is a needed patience in waiting for the right time to obtain the raw material. Most craftsmen get the materials by themselves (or used to), which means, most of them know how and where to obtain them; what is needed for them to grow and when is the right time for collecting them. In this way, a relationship is created because there is an interaction between the natural space and the workshop space.
