A Cross-disciplinary Approach to Crafting Materiality, Place and Memory

A cross-disciplinary approach to crafting materiality, place and memorySabine Pagan-Within craft disciplines, and in particular within my field of Contemporary Jewellery, making implies the shaping of a form by hand , achieved by a skilled person, expert in a particular field of practice. More recently, the notion of making has expanded to accommodate rapid technological change and refers to many forms of production, including digital technologies. Such developments have redefined the role and significance of materiality within relationships between making and being made.This observation is informed by a case study I conducted on Peter Zumthor s architecture and by my perception of architectural space and its connection to materiality, place and memory. The relationship of the Self with the in/tangible object was examined through the action of experiencing the building in its natural environment and, thus, contributing to its making, or else life history.This paper explores making: materiality and knowledge from a cross-disciplinary approach. Contemporary architectural and jewellery practice are examined side-by-side to evaluate the meaning of making and materiality in disciplines that use two distinct modes of production, yet share parallels in their relationships between maker, user, object and space.The miniature scale of jewellery often prompts the designer-maker to operate in an autonomous way. The advantage of such singular but holistic approach to making is the ability for the maker to be in control of, and actively participate in, both the process and the outcome. ship to the object isBy contrast, the architect's vision or project is reliant on a team of experts from various fields of practice to be realized. In this context, collaboration is integral to the making process.Central to both disciplines and a key finding of the research is the Self ; its relationship to the object is underpinned by its sensorial capacities. These are essential human characteris