Abstract

Making and producing traditions have been in a state of change with the emergence of digital media that creates knowledge sharing platforms affecting the conventional pathways. With a focus on embroidery activity, this paper seeks the dynamics of domestic craft-making under the influence of digitalization culture and aims to reveal the change of traditional practices and approaches fostered through social media platforms. To understand the potential of social media platforms, an empirical study was conducted with forty-two Turkish craftspeople engaging in embroidery with particular open-ended and sample-based questions. The findings show that the use of social media triggers the creativity of homemakers that affect the originality of the end product. Besides, social media shifts the inspiration source for homemaking from traditional to digital that overcomes the constraint of conventional craft-making methods. It has also changed the form of social interaction between makers, makers and customers through the emergence of new online communities and expanded the limits of embroidery making activity by transforming hobbyists into makers and producers. Briefly, social media decentralizes traditional making through the cultivation of new craft techniques and redefines the identity of domestic makers.

Keywords

Social media platforms; domestic craft-making; embroidery; Turkish craft

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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Jun 4th, 12:00 AM

Re-defining Domestic Craft-Making: Cultivation of New Craft Practices and Identity Through the Social Media

Making and producing traditions have been in a state of change with the emergence of digital media that creates knowledge sharing platforms affecting the conventional pathways. With a focus on embroidery activity, this paper seeks the dynamics of domestic craft-making under the influence of digitalization culture and aims to reveal the change of traditional practices and approaches fostered through social media platforms. To understand the potential of social media platforms, an empirical study was conducted with forty-two Turkish craftspeople engaging in embroidery with particular open-ended and sample-based questions. The findings show that the use of social media triggers the creativity of homemakers that affect the originality of the end product. Besides, social media shifts the inspiration source for homemaking from traditional to digital that overcomes the constraint of conventional craft-making methods. It has also changed the form of social interaction between makers, makers and customers through the emergence of new online communities and expanded the limits of embroidery making activity by transforming hobbyists into makers and producers. Briefly, social media decentralizes traditional making through the cultivation of new craft techniques and redefines the identity of domestic makers.

 

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