Craft Engagement For Environmental Sustainability

This research incorporates cultural and traditional Persian practices in order to develop social engagement with environmental sustainability. Persian crafts and rituals are utilized as the means of engagement in developing tangible practices that nudge consciousness and lead to greater understanding of nature and ecology. Cultural rituals in Persian culture such as Nowrooz and Yalda inspired me to design a service that supports and amplifies their connection to nature. In the development of this service two facets of sustainability are explored: materiality and nature. Craft opens up fascinating possibilities that address sustainability. Locality is the remarkable aspect of Craft. Materials, methods of making and the meaning in a craft artwork talk about the specific characteristic of the place that it comes from. It helps us to identify the characteristics of our natural environment and understand how to benefit from its capacities. In this service design, people participate in traditional craft activities and learn how the materials and processes of these craft artifacts are in tune with ecological systems. They then use the crafts that they have created as artifacts for display in their own cultural rituals like Nowrooz and Yalda. This service promotes consciousness about sustainability in participants during their involvement with the practice. Key to the design is my belief that a viable service is inviting and provides an atmosphere for people to play an active role in addressing current ecological issues. This empowers citizens and helps to develop and nurture the culture of environmental sustainability in Persian society. By unlocking the roots and histories of traditional crafts in any given culture, and then tapping into the creative possibilities of how they can be re-combined and re-framed, a path to social innovation can be etched by applying the results to contemporary issues of environmental sustainability.