Craft Workshop in Kyoto
April 20-21, 2023

International Workshop on Craft and Emerging Forms of Organizing


Hosted by Kyoto University, Japan

April 20-21, 2023

Kyoto University

Venue: Rakuyu Kaikan

By invitation only


Co-sponsored by

Purpose and Agenda

The European Union has launched the vision called ‘The New Bauhaus’ that, apart from referring to the ‘original’ German school of Bauhaus, later to become a movement, in 1910s-1930s, and its credo that ‘form follows function, also re-states the slogan as ‘Form follows planet.’ The vision wants to respond to an increasingly digitalized society and creative economy (with subsequent developments of innovative business models and new organizational challenges; Amit and Zott, 2012; McKinlay & Smith, 2009; Raviola, 2017), climate changes urging us to seek out new modes and models for production and making such that a more sustainable economy and society can be achieved (Bouchard, 2012; Johnsen, Olaison & Sørensen, 2018; Duxbury, 2021), and the related surge of interest in craft-based making of food, beverages, and things, which is often tied in local, sustainable production, re-use economy, and the concern for quality that follows from this (Bell and Vachhani, 2020; Gasparin and Neyland, 2022).

In terms of organization studies, this is interesting and important for several reasons. Firstly, these trends or tendencies in society and the economy drive and are driven by relatively new forms of organizing that we may call rhizomatic and operating in more assemblage-like modes (Hjorth and Holt, 2022). As such, they seem to draw upon the recent development of a more process-oriented knowledge, theory, and methodology in organization studies (Helin, Hernes, Hjorth and Holt, 2014; Langley and Tsoukas, 2017). Secondly, they do also reflect a tendency – manifest primarily in the design boom experienced during the last two decades – that the aesthetic-economy relationship has become increasingly important for users’/citizens’/consumers’ judgment of what is valuable (Austin, Hjorth, & Hessel, 2018; Islam, Endrissat & Noppeney, 2016; Stigliani & Ravasi, 2018; Cacciatore & Panozzo, 2022). Thirdly and finally, these trends point us to a more than two decades long evolution of more local- and community-based forms of organizing the economy, in which craft culture and craft businesses play a central role. Together we see these converge into a crossroad where a future of potentially more inclusive, sustainable, and creative organizations and society are at stake.

We believe there is an interesting research program here, societal trends that form basis for a continuous generation of empirical data that will provide the material for future research that can inquire into what craft is today, how the making of craft is organized, what potential there might be for craft-based businesses to support the development of a more inclusive, beautiful, and sustainable life. We find organizational research on craft is moving into a second wave, where not only the aesthetic-economic relationship is important, but also the cultural-historical perspective, and the ecological in terms of craft as a model for making and a source of community and local-regional identity.

Possible areas of interest

Against this backdrop, we suggest it is timely and important to reflect these societal-economic tendencies, and their corresponding resonance in organization studies, in an international Workshop that relates craft, new forms of organizing, and the cultural and creative organizations. The Workshop is located in Kyoto partly because of previous collaborations between researchers involved, including the EGOS and Organization Studies Kyoto Workshop in 2019. However, Kyoto also represents a capital of craft and provides a rich context for research into craft.

Apart from the main topic – Craft and New Forms of Organizing – there are several (although not limited to the ones we list below) related areas of interest that we suggest can be approached in papers:

  • Craft, tradition, innovation and authenticity – a tricky balance
  • Business models and business model innovation in craft industries
  • Craft and entrepreneurship
  • Craft, local economies and a relational ethics of organizing
  • Craft, aesthetics and economy
  • The art of craft and the craft of art
  • Organizational creativity and innovation in cultural and creative industries
  • Cultural entrepreneurship and craft
  • Cultural and Creative Industries – and cultural entrepreneurship
  • Culture, history, and craft and business form
  • Craft and community organization, local-regional economies
  • Craft businesses in a platform economy
  • Craft as embodied and material forms of organizing
  • Circular economy, sustainable production, and craft
  • History, culture, and cultural and creative industries
  • Craft and the organizing of public space

These themes can be combined or combined with method challenges, related to studying craft as a historically embedded, recently ‘hyped’ form of business organization.

Program

April 20

09.00-12:30 Field visit
We meet at Trafffic. Here is the map.

Take a taxi back to campus and lunch

13.00 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 14.30 Welcome and presentations of people (Daniel and Yutaka + all)
14.30 – 15.30 Paper session 1 (3 papers: 1 and 7)
15.30 – 16.00 Coffee/Tea
16.00 – 17.00 Paper session 2 (2 papers: 9 and 2)

18.30 Dinner (restaurant info follows)

April 21

09.15 – 09.30 Check-in day 2 (Coffee/Tea available) NEW START TIME
09.30 – 10.30 Paper session 2 (2 Papers: 5 and 11)
10.30 – 12.00 Paper session 4 (3 papers: 4, 8 and 10)
12.00 – 13.00 Lunch
13.00 – 14.30 Paper session 4 (3 papers: 3, 6 and 12)
14.30 – 14.45 Coffee/Tea
14.45 – 15.15 Paper session 5 (1 paper: 13)
15.15 – 16.00 Where do we go from here? (EGOS sub-theme, Standing Working Group, Special Issue(s), Book project)
16.00 Thank you and keep in touch!

Submission

Submission of short papers should be uploaded via the submission page no later than March 31st. Papers of maximum 3.000 words (font size 12, double spaced) should be submitted as Word- or PDF files.

Venue

You can find detials here.

You can find information about accommodation on the same page.

References

Amit, R., & Zott, C. (2012). Creating Value throigh Business Model Innovation. MIT Sloan Management Review, Special Ed, 36–44.

Austin, R., Hjorth, D., and Hessel, S. (2017) “How aesthetics and economy become conversant in creative firms,” Organization Studies, 36(8): 1095-1114.

Bleecker, J. (2009). Design Fiction: A Short Essay on Design, Science, Fact and Fiction – Near Future Laboratory Shop. Near Future Laboratory.

Bell, E., & Vachhani, S. J. (2020). Relational Encounters and Vital Materiality in the Practice of Craft Work. Organization Studies, 41(5), 681–701.

Bouchard, M. J. (2012). Social innovation, an analytical grid for understanding the social economy: The example of the Québec housing sector. Service Business, 6(1), 47–59.

Cacciatore S., & Panozzo, F., (2022). Models for Art & Business Cooperation, Journal of Cultural Management and Cultural Policy

Dunne, A., & Raby, F. (2013). Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming. The MIT Press.

Duxbury, N. (2021). Cultural and creative work in rural and remote areas: an emerging international conversation. International Journal of Cultural Policy, Forthcoming

European Union. (2018). Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing the Creative Europe programme (2021 to 2027) and repealing Regulation.

Gambardella, A., & McGahan, A. M. (2010). Business-model innovation: General purpose technologies and their implications for industry structure. Long Range Planning, 43(2–3), 262–271.

Gasparin, M., & Neyland, D. (2022). Organizing Tekhnē: Configuring processes and politics through craft. Organization Studies, 43(7), 1137–1160.

Gasparin, M., & Quinn, M. (2021). Designing regional innovation systems in transitional economies: A creative ecosystem approach. Growth and Change, 52(2), 1–20.

Hjorth, Daniel (2022), "Toward a More Cultural Understanding of Entrepreneurship", Lockwood, Christine and Soublière, Jean-Francois (Eds.) Advances in Cultural Entrepreneurship (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 80), Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 81-96.

Islam, G., Endrissat, N., & Noppeney, C. (2016). Beyond ‘the Eye’ of the Beholder: Scent innovation through analogical reconfiguration. Organization Studies, 37(6), 769–795.

Johnsen, C. G., Olaison, L., & Sørensen, B. M. (2018). Put Your Style at Stake: A New Use of Sustainable Entrepreneurship. Organization Studies, 39(2–3), 397–415.

McKinlay, A., & Smith, C. (2009). Creative labour: Working in the creative industries. Palgrave Macmillan.

Raviola, E. (2017). Meetings between frames: Negotiating worth between journalism and management. European Management Journal, 35(6), 737-744.

Stigliani, I., & Ravasi, D. (2018). The Shaping of Form: Exploring Designers’ Use of Aesthetic Knowledge. Organization Studies, 39(5–6), 747–784.

Sasaki, I., Ravasi, D., & Micelotta, E. (2019). Family Firms as Institutions: Cultural reproduction and status maintenance among multi-centenary shinise in Kyoto. Organization Studies, 40(6), 793–831.

Überbacher, F., Jacobs, C. D., & Cornelissen, J. P. (2015). How Entrepreneurs Become Skilled Cultural Operators. Organization Studies, 36(7), 925–951.

Wadhwani, R. D., Suddaby, R., Mordhorst, M., & Popp, A. (2018). History as Organizing: Uses of the Past in Organization Studies. Organization Studies, 39(12), 1663–1683.