Astonishing how well the theme of connecting Traditional crafts, New techniques and a Circular economy fits into the present era
Craft Your Future is an Erasmus+ funded project that ran from 2018 to 2021 and that developed several products and tools. These tools had only one purpose: to help Vocational Colleges to create a new generation of students who are able to combine traditional crafts, new technology & trends and elements of the circular economy to create the sustainable products of the future.
Now, Vocational students but also Higher Education students, policymakers, communities and professionals draw inspiration from Craft your Future every day.
WHY CRAFT YOUR FUTURE?
Craft Your Future contributes to social cohesion by letting young people become closer to and more involved with their region’s cultural heritage. Students will become aware of their regions traditional crafts and spot the threats that this specific cultural heritage is facing. By being aware of and actively involved with cultural heritage, students will learn to cherish it and realize that it is more than historical monuments left behind from the past. Students will grasp that cultural heritage is all the things, places and practices that define who we are as individuals, as communities, as regions. It will enhance the sense of local pride of youngsters and there for the liveability of a region.
STUDENTS IN THE LEAD
The rise of youth unemployment in the EU underlines the necessity to spark a dynamic and positive attitude among young people towards enterprising behaviour, networking skills and pro-activity. Learning by doing and educating students to take initiative and investigate opportunities themselves, rather than waiting for others to take the initiative, will increase employability. Craft Your Future addresses this need by the key focus on the initiative of the student.
WHAT WE LEARNED
Looking back, we experienced that the regions Friesland (NL), Central Bulgaria (BG) and Valencia (ES) bear a wealth of intangible heritage, such as traditions, knowledge of old crafts and social networks. International student training weeks and partner meetings enabled the Craft your Future partners to experience this wealth in each other’s regions. What all regions have in common as well is waste. With Craft your Future we have made a giant step in pushing a circular economy in which the reuse of products and raw materials is maximised and their value destruction minimised. In Craft Your Future students examined whether the advancing technology and trends can help revitalize old crafts using waste as raw material.
WHAT WE ACHIEVED
In three years of Craft your Future we preserved cultural heritage by using culture as a driver for creative innovation, turning intangible tradition and waste management issues into a real future by using trends and new techniques.
The Craft Your Future student programme is built around three themes: traditional crafts, new technology and trends, and the circular economy. In a three-step process, students expand and deepen their knowledge on these themes before putting their knowledge into action by combining all three to design a sustainable product. Each of the three phases are supported by resources, tools and assignments.
THE REGIONAL ALLIANCE TOOLKIT
With the Craft Your Future Regional Alliance toolkit we want to inspire the new doers and thinkers in Europe. By showing them how you can make a difference by taking the lead yourself. Be proud of where you come from, and how you can come up with imaginative products or services using craft and digital technology in a circular and sustainable environment.