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  • Kimberley Chandler

Kimberley Chandler

Kimberley Chandler is a London-based researcher, writer, and editor, who holds a PhD in Design and Architecture from the University of Brighton. Her particular focus is craft theory and practice, material agency, and temporality. She received her BA in Graphic Design at the University of Brighton (2001–2004) and MA in History of Design at the Royal College of Art/Victoria & Albert Museum (2007–2009). Kimberley has worked closely with cultural institutions including the Centre of Ceramic Art at York Art Gallery, Yale Center for British Art, and Casco–Office for Art, Design and Theory, as well as with many artists and designers. She regularly writes about contemporary craft and design for publications such as Crafts, Art Jewelry Forum, Interpreting Ceramics, and 3rd Dimension, and is the former assistant editor at Ceramic Review.

Email address: kimberley.chandler@network.rca.ac.uk

Qualification: PhD in Architecture & Design

Timeframe: 3 years

Kimberley-Chandler

Thesis title

In the Making: An interdisciplinary revision of the concept of the skeuomorph for material practice

My research

This research initiates a new role for the skeuomorph in relation to material practice, argues that it is revealing of material experimentation and interacting craft methods, and proposes that, by refocusing attention on its crafted logic, we can revitalise the concept for practitioners and associated professionals in the contemporary context.

The skeuomorph, roughly translated as “structure-form”, is a nineteenth-century formulation that acknowledges the formal interrelationship among material things. It denotes an object whose method of production corresponds to an altogether different material – such as basketry techniques assimilated into ceramics, or woodwork into masonry – and is described accordingly as “skeuomorphic”. It was conceived within an industrialising context where the ideological role of objects, as well as the impact of new fabrication methods and materials, was central to architectural and design discourse. Now would seem the ideal cross-disciplinary context within which to re-encounter it, either materially or discursively. However, its significance as a marker of materials experimentation has become obscured, primarily due to its unthinking appropriation in the digital realm, which yields its own material and temporal ambiguities.

This research sets out to question the ambivalence towards the concept, and asks: In what ways is the skeuomorph misinterpreted in the contemporary context? What different facets of the skeuomorph come to light through a focus on its making? What is the relevance of the revised concept of the skeuomorph for contemporary material practice? To do this, the research knits together theory and practice. It integrates historiography with textual analysis, and mixes theoretical concepts from material culture studies, craft theory, and process philosophy with the tacit knowing of practitioners. The research does not take the skeuomorph at face value, but rather re-examines its role in the making. What emerges is an intrinsically material, temporally complex, and tactical mode of making that has the capacity to open up new perspectives on making, as well as our critical engagement with objects.

Funder: Arts and Humanities Research Council

Supervisors

Professor Paul Jobling

Dr Ivana Wingham

Professor Jonathan Woodham

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