Value direction: Moving crafts toward sustainability in the Yangtze River Delta, China

Abstract

The paper presents ongoing research on craft and design for sustainability in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), China. Based on previous research into the relationship between craft and design for sustainability, and literature on value, a typology of five values pertaining to craft is defined. This research investigates values and craft practices in the YRD through identifying the direction of craftwork development in the region and evaluating them against the defined five values. It is found that some crafts in the YRD are commercialized and strongly influenced by cosmopolitanism and consumerism, while some crafts with high intrinsic values are still in decline and need specific interventions. However, these interventions need more context-based consideration and evaluation. What might be regarded as "excessive" intervention in commercial promotion and mass-production could potentially homogenize local crafts, thereby undermining their distinctiveness and their intrinsic values. The aim of this paper is to (a) identify the direction of different craftworks categories in the YRD; and (b) evaluate them with the defined five values in order to inform future design intervention.