Making Commons

Crafting Space for the Youth within the Makers Valley

Robyn Smuts

MArch 2021

Supervisors:
Unit Leader: Claudia Morgado
Unit Tutor: Ruby Mungoshi
Unit Assistant: Azraa Gabru

UNIT 13^︎︎︎
Second Nature | Shared Futures

Craft can be understood as the skill and art of making with the use of one’s hands, connecting the maker to the practice and material of the making. As Richard Sennet stated in his 2008 book, The Craftsmen: “The carpenter, lab technician and conductor are all craftsmen because they are dedicated to good work for its own sake”.

Craft is significant in the development of cultures and societies as it allows for collectives of makers to document through artefacts the rich knowledge and history that embody a place and moment in time. What craft was and what it is now is vastly different but the fundamentals of the act of making allows a sense of autonomy and connection to that history and materiality, something that cannot be lost as it is archived in the act.

The project locates itself in a hub of making within Johannesburg, the Makers Valley initiative to the SE of the Johannesburg CBD, and specifically Victoria Yards - a self-proclaimed “incubation hub” for creators. The enclosure of this site forms an edge condition, where the privatisation of the craft knowledge hinders a connection to the broader context and local residents. Through explorations and experiments along the edge of this enclosure the project aims to soften and expand the boundary, crafting new relationships between inside and out, between resident and visitor and between making craft and making space.

Keywords:
Craft, Context, Collective, Commons, Enclosure

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