Charlotte Linton

Manifesto point 8 - We recognise craft as a leader in ethical, environmental and sustainable business practice.

“Craft has gained a reputation for its association with natural materials, slow production, and handmade quality, a tradition that stems from place-based vernaculars. Craft practices offer the chance for a more sustainable and radical future that MAKE aims to nurture through its manifesto, as stated in point 8. Building on assumptions about what craft is, it is essential to educate consumers (and makers) on the relationship between materials, community and environment. Armed with this knowledge all of us can attempt to make more informed, ethical choices about the objects that we buy, use and dispose of.

 

Charlotte Linton is a designer and anthropologist based at the University of Oxford whose research explores textile techniques, aesthetics and histories focusing on the social, environmental and economic relationships formed during production. Her current research based in Japan looks at the contemporary production of textiles associated with the Oshima tsumugi industry of Amami Oshima. Her work considers the role that traditional crafts play in sustaining rural social networks particularly in light of issues surrounding migration and sustainability. A graduate of Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art, London, Charlotte has worked as a designer in the fashion and textiles industry in London, New York and Paris.