Its Historical Background

Craft has long been understood as the shaping of objects through skill.

Over time, its meaning moved across three broad facets — from shaping function, to serving experience, to expressing an attitude within a wider field. Each layer added depth to what craft could be.

The first facet: Intention

For centuries, craft grew from necessity. Clothing, tools and furniture were valued for how well they served their purpose. Function was the anchor: technique aligned with need. That foundation remains — a piece must still hold meaning in what it is made to do.

The second facet: Attention

When mechanical production took over functional making, craft gained a second layer: the experience behind the work. Care, judgement and presence became part of its meaning — not only what the piece does, but what it leaves behind.

The third facet: Attitude

As daily life moved into digital and service-based forms, and as globalisation connected work across sectors and scales, the field widened beyond the traditional workshop.

Work is now shaped within global contexts. A third layer came forward: the attitude behind the work — the coherence of choices, the responsibility for the world the piece enters, and the integrity one brings to the craft.

Seen together, these shifts are represented in the ethos, each with its own virtue.