Days of Future Past: The tradition–novelty paradox and the endurance of heritage crafts

Abstract

Heritage crafts – craft occupations with storied histories that provide value through connection to tradition – can be surprisingly resilient, often re-emerging despite periods of decline. However, this endurance is neither simple nor automatic and can seem puzzling in the face of modernizing forces, such as advancing technology. Using a paradox lens, I suggest that craftspeople’s responses to the tension between novelty and tradition are key to the endurance of heritage craft over time. Although the existing literature has begun to explore these tensions, we have lacked an overarching theoretical framework to explain how heritage crafts can overcome cycles of decline and resurgence. I present a conceptual framework for understanding how craft workers can effectively navigate tradition–novelty tensions, creating virtuous cycles which enable growth. I outline three strategies – preserving, segmenting and synthesizing – which are influenced by a variety of enabling factors (e.g. individual characteristics, environmental factors). Additionally, I theorize three factors – revaluing heritage, developing reputation and exposure to new domains – which dynamically shape how craftspeople move between strategies over time. My framework builds theory around the endurance of craft over time, stability and change in tradition, and creativity in highly traditional occupations.

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