Collaboration and exchange between “Craftsman” and “Designer”: Symbiosis towards Product Innovation.

Abstract

In this article, we argue that articulated craft knowledge may have significant potential for technological innovation when combined with design knowledge in situations where craftsmen and designers collaborate in industry. Having as the subject matter of this research, we elicited three features of craft that can possibly contribute to NPD. These are “risk taking”, “holistic approach in practice” and “prototyping” transferred as knowledge production, knowledge application and knowledge diffusion to the innovation process. Through this topic, we search for NPD cases that craftsmen and designers collaborate in industry. In conclusion, the cases in this article ending with a product that finds a place in the market correspond with “knowledge application” stage of the innovation process. Although knowledge application and knowledge diffusion stages resulted in a product, knowledge production stage is also significant in terms of the potential use of knowledge in the future obtained from collaborative work of craftsmanship.