Center for Craft 25th anniversary logo in red
Center for Craft 25th anniversary logo in red

REsearch & IDEAS

The Center strategically invests in projects aimed at advancing the field of craft.

As an incubator for new research and emerging ideas, we convene, research, and lead initiatives across institutions to stimulate critical thinking and new directions in the field. We appreciate voices from within and outside the craft community and value the knowledge sharing and unexpected outcomes that results from collaboration.

Field Building

Field Building

Craft Ways

Research takes care. It requires work, and builds connections best when shared. We invite you to join us for a research experiment around a key question: What work can we do together that we could not do alone? Over three days of listening, making, and discussing through virtual sessions, we will share research tools, works-in-progress, and think critically with one another. How can we learn fromand witeach other?

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Render of the Cherokee Parklet with mother and small child walking along it.

ᏔᎷᏣ The Basket

The Center for Craft is working in collaboration with members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to create a public art parklet to preserve and advance the important craft legacy of western North Carolina.

Informed by ᎺᎵ ᏔᎻᏏᏂ, Mary Thompson, consulting artist and prolific Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians basketmaker, the parklet’s design references Cherokee basketry in its materials, structure, colors, patterns, and use.

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Field Building

Craft Think Tank

A two-day convening of national and international thought leaders intended to identify and meet emerging needs in the craft field. These convening nurture relationships across the various disciplines where craft is learned, researched, and/or shared with the public. Craft Think Tanks frequently result in new projects and initiatives, including  Makers: A History of American Studio Craft, the first comprehensive survey of studio craft in the United States, the Journal of Modern Craft, and the Craft Research Fund program, among others.

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Woman listening to other woman speak while gathered around a large table.

Photo: Steve Mann, Black Box Photography

Craft Your Commerce

A program created by the Center for Craft and offered through Mountain BizWorks that connects, elevates, and advances emerging and established makers/designers with craft-inspired businesses. The program includes a series of workshops, events, and cohort experiences.

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ACTIVATING RESOURCES