Craftsmanship's Value: Exploring the Shifting Role of the Maker in Contemporary Slip-Cast Fabrication

Abstract

As technologies become increasingly integrated into production, the maker’s relationship with material is transferred from direct physical engagement to roles as programmer and operator, leading to a risk in loss of craftsmanship. While technological advancement has increased the efficiency and possibilities of architectural production by reducing time, labour, and cost, it has also altered the relationship between designers, makers, and materials. This raises questions about how values of craftsmanship such as reflective judgement learned through making and a responsibility toward the user and society, can persist within contemporary fabrication.

This thesis investigates the role and value of craftsmanship in contemporary production processes by speaking with craftsmen through field research and working with slip casted ceramics, a pottery-forming process using absorbent molds with liquid clay (slip), to design and produce a screen system. Field research examines slip casting across different scales and methods of production through visits to Bryan Hopkins - an expert in small-scale slip casting, Ludowici Roof Tiles - a large-scale production facility for ceramic architectural components, Joshua Stein at Radical Craft - an experimental ceramicist who pushes the capabilities of fabrication methods, and a variety of toilet manufacturing facilities - high-quality mass production facilities of slip casted ceramic toilets. Each case study adapts the traditional slip casting process toward innovation or efficiency, revealing different values and motivations behind the maker’s choice of technique. These findings inform research through fabrication in which the identified methods and design goals are tested through the fabrication of a slip-cast screen system, providing a means for further analysis of craftsmanship and its role in contemporary craft.

The cases studies and fabrication research are focused on the shift in knowledge, tools, and material connection from handcraft to contemporary machine fabrication, which can be further understood through architect and researcher Dr. Christoph Schindler’s framework of fabrication technology and evolution of techniques. Schindler describes fabrication processes as a continuous development with three waves of processing technology - hand tool, machine-tool, and information-tool technology, relating to evolving industrial developments and technological introductions. While this evolution can optimize production and expand its possibilities, the research examines the tensions and consequences that arise when knowledge shifts away from the craftsperson, particularly the potential loss of craftsmanship. As material and process knowledge enables informed design decisions, transferring this knowledge from the human to machines and digital information can distance the designer from the material and, consequently, from their responsibility toward the environments they create.

This physical design analysis establishes the role and value of craftsmanship within contemporary production while informing a slip-cast fabrication methodology that incorporates these values. The research is evaluated through the conclusions drawn from comparing the values embedded within different approaches to production across varying scales and design intentions.