Description

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This open access book explores the experience of working as a craftsperson or designer maker in the contemporary creative economy. The authors utilise evidence from the only major empirical study to explore the skills required and the challenges facing contemporary makers in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Drawing upon 180 interviews with peak organisations, established and emerging makers, and four years of fieldwork across Australia, this book offers a unique insight into the motivations informing those who seek to make an income from their craft or designer maker practice, as well as the challenges and opportunities facing them as they do so at this time of renewed interest internationally in the artisanal and handmade. Offering a rich and deep collection of real-life experiences, this book is aimed both at an academic and practitioner audience.

About the Author

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Susan Luckman is Professor of Cultural and Creative Industries at the University of South Australia. She is author of Craft and the Creative Economy (2015) and co-editor of The New Normal of Working Lives (2018) and Pathways into Creative Working Lives (2020). Jane Andrew is Senior Lecturer and Director of Match Studio at the University of South Australia. Her research focuses on regional innovation systems and interdisciplinary collaboration supported by design methodologies and tools.