Glenn Adamson's last book Thinking Through Craft offered an influential account of craft's
position within modern and contemporary art. Now in his engaging sequel The Invention of
Craft his theoretical discussion of skilled work is extended back in time and across numerous
disciplines. Adamson searches out the origins of modern craft locating its emergence in the
period of the industrial revolution. He demonstrates how craft was invented as industry's other
a necessary counterpart to ideas of progress and upheaval. In the process the magical and
secretive culture of artisans was gradually dominated through division and explication. This
left craft with an oppositional stance a traditional or anti-modern position. The Invention of
Craft ranges widely across media from lock-making wood-carving and iron-casting to fashion
architecture and design. It also moves back and forth between periods from the 18th century to
the present day demonstrating how contemporary practice can be informed through the study of
modern craft in its moment of invention.
