HDK Academy of Design and Crafts. Degree Show 2017

Craft has long occupied the in-between: shuttling between function, ornament and conceptual critique. Debates in recent decades often get stuck on these points - attempting, with difficulty, to agree on a single identity or position. The illusiveness of this endeavour may point to the greatest assets of craft: resilience, malleability and even a Trojan-like ability to disguise itself and enter into other fields and discourses almost without notice. While this flexibility is commendable, it can leave us with the impression that craft thrives only in small specialist communities of practice and education.