“Craftechnology” safeguarding intangible cultural heritage through digital fabrication tools to empower craftspeople

This research aims to develop a novel methodological framework titled ‘Craftechnology’ to safeguard traditional crafts by respectfully integrating digital fabrication advances. It tackles the most common threats that this intangible type of cultural heritage faces today, which include a declining number of craftspeople due to aging; a diminishing sociocultural value of crafts in local communities; and a lack of interest from younger generations to learn and valorize crafting. Craftechnology builds on the emerging concept of hybrid crafting by creating synergies between traditional craftspeople, young generations, and technological experts by developing new co-construction methods that lead to innovative prototypes that integrate traditional crafts and digital fabrication technologies. The research is unique because it commences from and finishes with the perspective of craftspeople in empowering them to take action, all while respecting their sociocultural context of being. By following a comparative case-study methodology, we will validate the Craftechnology framework by measuring its real-world impact on at least two different crafts and three different cultures that are geographically spread between Egypt and Belgium. As such, we will compare the performance of Craftechnology in different real-world contexts, such as in terms of empowering immigrant-women communities in Belgium who practice a traditional craft, Belgian craftspeople located in Belgium, and lastly local craftspeople from Egypt. Our empirical findings will enable us to then generalize and offer its underlying methods to other parties worldwide who wish to tackle the urgent challenges of cultural heritage crafting