In February and March 2025, Dr. Helena Hansson, researcher and senior lecturer in Design, and Karl Hallberg, artist, researcher, and lecturer, both affiliated with the Academy of Art and Design (Hdk-Valand), University of Gothenburg, and involved in the Hephaestus project, visited Parsons School of Design in New York. The visit was part of a three-year teacher mobility project funded by Erasmus+. The project aims to investigate and implement co-crafting as a pedagogical method in design education, in collaboration with Otto von Busch, Professor of Integrated Design at Parsons.
Co-crafting is a participatory design approach that emphasizes hands-on, material-based activities aimed at addressing common needs and encouraging collective action. The collaborative process uses craft-based methods and tools to engage participants, making them feel useful and involved. This method centers around direct action, focusing on fulfilling everyday needs collaboratively. It highlights the cooperation between hands, tools, and materials, as well as personal interplay, embodying principles of collaborative and democratic processes. The approach seeks to make change tangible and “anchored in tangible reality” (Sennett, 2008:21), as all participants contribute hands-on to the outcome. By fostering shared trust through small successes and continuous practical collaboration, the method supports the development of “socially valid designs” (Hansson and von Busch, 2023: 63).
During their stay, the research team participated in several course elements in different courses. First, they co-facilitated a workshop in the course “Integrated Design Studio 2” hosted by Evren Uzer, Associate Professor of Strategic Design and Urban Practice. The students worked together to address an everyday need: creating clothes hangers for their classrooms. Students explored various social tools, including a double saw developed by Hallberg and a rope-making machine created by Hansson and her team.
Next, Helena lectured in the course “Sustainable Slowness,” led by Cynthia Jaramillo Lawson, Professor of Integrated Design. Here, she discussed her work with Bas in Kenya, focusing on how to design sustainably with a frugal approach. The students carved hooks that were assembled into another coat hanger, engaging in a co-crafting experience led by Otto von Busch.
On the final occasion, Otto and Helena taught the “Senior Project 2, Capstone” course in Integrated Design Studio 2, under the leadership of Killeen Hanson, Assistant Professor of Strategic Design and Management. Helena presented her research on co-crafting and prototypical design, sharing examples from Sweden, Kenya, and the USA. The day concluded with Otto and Helena supervising the students as they collaborated on their ongoing projects with Greenport Camera Obscura.
Feedback from the educational activities highlighted that practical collaboration using real materials at full scale has a capability-building and empowering effect. Continuous discussions are focused on how to design sustainably through craft, as well as the importance of integrating practical elements into the more abstract aspects of design education, particularly in strategic design and management.
The visit to New York ended with a writing residency where Helena and Otto co-authored texts for the book “PLANNING with YOUTH: a tool and a framework for an engaging, meaningful and forward-looking participation of youngsters in shaping attractive and sustainable living environments.” This book, edited by researchers from Södertörn University in Sweden, is meant to be a handbook for design students and others involved in design processes with young adults.
From a HEPHAESTUS perspective, this pedagogical experiment and exchange is valuable as it generates new knowledge for the ongoing research on sustainable craft in Europe. Moreover, the teacher collaboration will help disseminate information about HEPHAESTUS in a broader international context while establishing new connections.
