“The promise of making” is a research project that investigates the validity
of traditional notions of craft in our contemporary society, and examines how
these notions are understood through the lens of consumption in a knowledge
driven economy. The project simultaneously engages in a theoretical revision of
craft, and undertakes a case study that interrogates the processes of learning the
required skills to attempt to manufacture a pair of jeans from scratch. Through the
reading of theory of craft, contemporary economic models and affects, I will first
establish a framework for developing ideas of a reconfigured concept of craft. By
examining the behaviours in these contemporary practices –and their relationship
to the act of making– I will analyze how the optimism regarding access to
knowledge, as well as the nostalgia for hand making perpetrate the illusion of a
genuine and sincere craft.