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{{Short description|Skill performed manually}}{{other uses}}{{More citations needed|date=April 2017}}File:Swanson Shoe Repair 18.jpg|thumb|Shoes are repaired by a skilled shoemaker; here he evaluates a pair of shoes with a customercustomer(File:NSRW Japanese potter at his wheel.jpg|thumb|Japanese potter at his wheel (1914))File:Traditional_Bagh_hand_block_print_master_craftsman-artisan-artist_Mohammed_Bilal_Khatri,_Madhya_Pradesh,_India.jpg|thumb|Bagh print traditional hand block print craft in IndiaIndiaA craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale production of goods, or their maintenance, for example by tinkers. The traditional term craftsman is nowadays often replaced by artisan and by craftsperson.Historically, the more specialized crafts with high-value products tended to concentrate in urban centers and their practitioners formed guilds. The skill required by their professions and the need to be permanently involved in the exchange of goods often demanded a higher level of education, and craftspeople were usually in a more privileged position than the peasantry in societal hierarchy. The households of artisans were not as self-sufficient as those of people engaged in agricultural work, and therefore had to rely on the exchange of goods. Some crafts, especially in areas such as pottery, woodworking, and various stages of textile production, could be practiced on a part-time basis by those also working in agriculture, and often formed part of village life.When an apprentice finished their apprenticeship, they became a journeyman searching for a place to set up their own shop and make a living. After setting up their own shop, they could then call themselves a master of their craft.This stepwise approach to mastery of a craft, which includes the attainment of some education and skill, has survived in some countries to the present day. But crafts have undergone deep structural changes since and during the era of the Industrial Revolution. The mass production of goods by large-scale industry has limited crafts to market segments in which industry's modes of functioning or its mass-produced goods do not satisfy the preferences of potential buyers. As an outcome of these changes, craftspeople today increasingly make use of semi-finished components or materials and adapt these to their customers' requirements or demands. Thus, they participate in a certain division of labour between industry and craft.

Nature of craft skill

The nature of craft skill and the process of its development are continually debated by philosophers, anthropologists, and cognitive scientists.BOOK, Martin, Tom,weblink Craft learning as perceptual transformation: getting 'the feel' in the wooden boat workshop, 2021, Palgrave Macmillan, 978-3-030-64283-9, 2: Enduring Questions in Craft Research, 1237490664, Some scholars note that craft skill is marked by particular ways of experiencing tools and materials, whether by allowing tools to recede from focal awareness,BOOK, O'Connor, Erin,weblink Practicing culture, 2007, Routledge, Craig J., Calhoun, Richard, Sennett, 978-0-203-94495-0, London, Hot glass: The calorific imagination of practice in glassblowing, 174255786, 57–81, perceiving tools and materials in terms of their practical interrelationships,JOURNAL, Martin, Tom, 2020-12-21, Relational Perception and 'the feel' for Tools in the Wooden Boat Workshop,weblink Phenomenology & Practice, 15, 2, 5–23, 10.29173/pandpr29441, 234377859, 1913-4711, free, or seeing aspects of work that are invisible to the untrained observer.BOOK, Grasseni, Cristina,weblink The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, 2018, Hilary, Callan, Simon, Coleman, 978-1-118-92439-6, Hoboken, N.J., Skilled Vision, 1013888029, Other scholars working on craft skill focus on observational learning and mimicry, exploring how learners visually parse the movements of experts.JOURNAL, Marchand, Trevor H.J., 2010, Embodied cognition and communication: studies with British fine woodworkers,weblink Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 16, S100–S120, 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2010.01612.x, Certain researchers even de-emphasize the role of the individual craftsperson, noting the collective nature of craft understandingBOOK, Jean, Lave, Etienne, Wenger, Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, 1991-09-27,weblink 27–44, Cambridge University Press, 10.1017/cbo9780511815355.003, 9780521413084, 2023-01-12, or emphasizing the role of materials as collaborators in the process of production.{{multiref2

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OCLC=317883316, }} Classification There are three aspects to human creativity:{{According to whom|date=September 2022}} art, crafts, and science. Roughly, art relies upon intuitive sensing, vision, and expression; crafts upon sophisticated technique; and science upon knowledge.File:India StreetCraft.jpg|thumb|left|Street handicraft: here a skilled metalsmith in Agra, India sits between scooters in a commercial area making careful observations in the practice of his trade]] Handicraft Handicraft is the "traditional" main sector of the crafts. It is a type of work where useful and decorative devices are made completely by hand or by using only simple tools. The term is usually applied to traditional means of making goods. The individual artisanship of the items is a paramount criterion, an such items often have cultural and/or religious significance. Items made by mass production or machines are not handicraft goods.The beginning of crafts in areas like the Ottoman Empire involved the governing bodies{{Specify|reason=which governing bodies?|date=July 2023}} requiring members of the city who were skilled at creating goods to open shops in the center of town. These people slowly stopped acting as subsistence farmers (who created goods in their own homes to trade with neighbors) and began to represent what we think of as "craftspeople" today.BOOK, Suraiya, Faroqhi, Artisans of Empire : Crafts and Craftspeople Under the Ottomans., 2014, I.B. Tauris, 9780857710628, 119, 956646181, Besides traditional goods, handicraft contributes to the field of computing by combining craft practices with technology. For example, in 1968, the Apollo 8 spacecraft's core memory consisted of wires that were woven around and through electromagnetic cores by hand. The core rope memory they{{specify|date=July 2023}} created contained information used to successfully complete the mission.BOOK, Daniela K., Rosner,weblink Critical Fabulations: reworking the methods and margins of design., 2020, MIT Press, 978-0-262-54268-5, 1194870241, Crafts and craftspeople have become a subject of academic study. For example, Stephanie Bunn was an artist before she became an anthropologist, and she went on to develop an academic interest in the process of craft. She argues that what happens to an object before it becomes a "product" is an area worthy of study.BOOK, Ingold, Tim, Redrawing Anthropology: Materials, Movements, Lines, Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2011, Farnham, 21–22, (File:Artesanía de las calles de Puebla..JPG|thumb|Mexican craft) The Arts and Crafts Movement File:MorganWoodworking.jpg|thumb|Woodworking being done in a workshopworkshopThe term crafts is used to describe artistic practices within the family of decorative arts that traditionally are defined by their relationship to functional or utilitarian products (such as sculptural forms in the vessel tradition) or by their use of such natural media as wood, clay, ceramics, glass, textiles, and metal.The Arts and Crafts Movement originated in Britain during the late 19th century and was characterized by a style of decoration reminiscent of medieval times. The primary artist associated with the movement is William Morris, whose work was reinforced with writings from John Ruskin. The movement placed a high importance on the quality of craftsmanship, while emphasizing the importance for the arts to contribute to economic reform. Studio crafts Crafts practiced by independent artists working alone or in small groups are referred to as studio craft. Studio craft includes studio pottery, metalwork, weaving, woodturning, paper and other forms of woodworking, glassblowing, and glass art. Craft fairs A craft fair is an organized event to display and sell crafts. There are also craft stores where such goods are sold and craft communities, such as Craftster, where expertise is shared. Tradesperson A tradesperson is a skilled manual worker in a particular trade or craft. Economically and socially, a tradesperson's status is considered{{by whom|date=July 2023}} between a laborer and a professional, with{{ambiguous|reason=which of these does "with" refer to: the tradesperson, the laborer, or the professional?|date=July 2023}} a high degree of both practical and theoretical knowledge of their trade. In cultures where professional careers are highly prized, there can be a shortage of skilled manual workers, leading to lucrative niche markets in the trades. See also {{Col-begin}}{{Col-break}} {{Annotated link |Apprenticeship}} {{Annotated link |Artisan}} {{Annotated link |handicraft|Arts and crafts}} {{Annotated link |Arts and Crafts movement}} {{Annotated link |Bagh print}} {{Annotated link |Bagru print}} {{Annotated link |Craft production}} {{Annotated link |Decorative arts}} {{Annotated link |Fully feathered basket}} {{Annotated link |Guild}} {{Annotated link |Japanese craft}} {{Annotated link |Journeyman}} {{Annotated link |Master craftsman}} {{Annotated link |Otium}} {{Annotated link |Profession}} {{Annotated link |Semiprofession}} {{Annotated link |Vocation}} {{Annotated link |Weaving}} {{Col-break}} Communities {{Annotated link |American Craft Council}} {{Annotated link |Chamber of commerce}} {{Annotated link |Craft Northern Ireland}} {{Annotated link |Crafts Council}} {{Annotated link |Crafts Council of British Columbia}} {{Annotated link |General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York}} {{Annotated link |Heritage Crafts Association}} {{Annotated link |Japan Kōgei Association}} {{Annotated link |Pike Place Market}} {{Annotated link |Street Artists Program of San Francisco}} {{col-end}} References {{Reflist}} External links {{Wiktionary}}{{Commons category-inline|Crafts}}{{Branches of the visual arts}}{{Virtues}}{{Authority control}}