Just Craft: Capabilities and Empowerment in Participatory Craft Projects

Otto von Busch is an associate professor of Integrated Design at Parsons, The New School for Design. He holds a PhD in design from the School of Design and Craft at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and was previously Professor of Textiles at Konstfack, Stockholm. His work explores how design can mobilize community capabilities through collaborative craft, fashion, and social activism.

Cigdem Kaya Pazarbasi is a designer and associate professor at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Department of Industrial Product Design, where she teaches interaction between art and design and product design Studio in the undergraduate program, and practice-led research methods and design for social innovation in the graduate programs. Her experience as an artist enriches her teaching in the design programs. She received her BSc in ID from ITU, Istanbul; her MFA in New Genres from SFAI, San Francisco; and her PhD in ID from ITU, Istanbul. Cigdem has been a visiting researcher at Sheffield Hallam University and she is a Fulbright alumna.