Hantverkarens sinnliga erfarenheter - en källa till fördjupad hantverkskunskap

Abstract

The sensory experiences of a craftsperson is an integral part of decision making. The difficulties expressing these experiences were documented by Michael Polanyi in the central thesis of his book The tacit dimension (Polanyi 1966). The statement “we can know more than we can tell” has been the foundation for many craft scientists' work and has more recently been criticized by Tim Ingold, who posits that there are more ways of conveying knowledge than those Polanyi discuss. Ways of tacit knowing (Seiler et al. 2021) further explores this criticism by trying film as a medium for extracting the “craft knowledge” from certain processes in gardening and cooking. I find the lack of use of sensory experiences in craft education unfortunate, since it can be a powerful source of knowledge. In my research I aim to provide an example of the findings presented in Ways of tacit knowing focusing on the specificities of woodworking. I want to contribute to the body of work that would provide craftspeople, particularly at the beginning of their learning, with the tools necessary to reach a deeper understanding faster, and to be able to better communicate their knowledge. My method has been to film myself in the process of shaping and fitting an axe handle while continuously articulating what I'm doing and what sensory experiences inform my decision making. I then critically examined the footage to find more information that I might not have expressed during filming. My main conclusions were as follows: Our senses are constantly engaged in the decision making process, more often than not in conjunction with each other, and the sensory assessments are reliant on previous experiences. As for the specificity of woodworking, I have found it to be an iterative and time independent craft compared to the examples in my sources.