Craft becomes Modern. The Bauhaus in the Making

Hammering, planing, sawing and weaving – it was pretty loud and dusty in the workshop wing of the School of Design, the Bauhaus Dessau. Although conceived as ‘laboratories for industry’, a great deal was still done by hand in the Dessau workshops. The exhibition "Craft becomes Modern. The Bauhaus in the Making" in the original setting, the weaving workshop in the Bauhaus building in Dessau, tells the story of the workshops from the perspective of craft – a discipline that was already pivotal to the foundation of the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar. That said, at the Bauhaus the concept of craft was more contentious than any other. In the microcosm of workshop praxis, the exhibition shows the prevailing wide-ranging eld of conflict in which craft at the Bauhaus was redefined as a utopia, albeit one that coexisted with industrial culture. Through sketches, lesson notes, material studies, objects, photos and documents, visitors learn about design, making and production at the Bauhaus.

Contemporary positions in design that conceptualise craft as critical design praxis enter into a dialogue with modern craft at the Bauhaus.