Page 11 - Constructing Craft

thought to be a characteristic that marked out New Zealanders as ‘different’ and

‘independent’. It was colloquially called the ‘No. 8-wire mentality’. The growth of
a movement that embraced this concept was bound to receive enthusiastic

support. But it was also a movement that evolved and the changes this
demanded did not always sit comfortably with craftspeople. Each generation

either refined the ideas of their predecessors or struggled to move the
movement forward – ever closer to the art world.

Was it a Movement?

Was this in fact a movement at all? In one sense – that is a movement as a

programme adopted by a group – it was. Many of the people who believed that

craftspeople should become united held firm ideas about how this was to be
achieved and what the aims of the movement should be. But, in another sense,

it was more a state of consciousness which exhibited all the divisions to be
found when a group attempts to unify individuals with ideas that are diverse and

even contradictory. There may even have been a number of movements – the
studio pottery movement for instance – grouped, often uncomfortably, together.

Certainly the formation of the Crafts Council of New Zealand implies a

movement of some sort. But the acrimony that surrounded the demise of the
Crafts Council in 1992 suggests a movement that was far from united.

The Story of Craft in New Zealand

The story begins with the foundations of craft in New Zealand – the earliest

craftspeople. From the first settlement of New Zealand by Europeans, British
craft was considered the benchmark in quality. But the crafts in Europe,

particularly Britain, had been severely affected by the Industrial Revolution and
craftspeople in New Zealand who made their work by hand were forced to

compete with factory-made items, initially imported from Europe and later

manufactured in factories in New Zealand. In reaction to the attack on the crafts,
and as a means of enriching the lives most affected by the changes, a small

group of upper-middle class intellectuals had tried to revive the crafts of the
middle ages – first in Britain and later in Europe and the United States. The Arts

Constructing Craft