Sagar Sutar

Suthor is context aware hammer. This hammer senses the context and rebounces back while hammering if it senses wrong context. The intent is to make a statement about a craftsmanship, a technology, a quality work, material and techniques, an experience of the good craftsman.

Concept

What is ​ craftsmanship? - An attitude towards creating something using different techniques and tools, where the craftsman practices his hand skills, care and judgement on material and on creation. The act of crafting involves not only thinking with the head but also the hands, which makes it difficult to determine the end result of the craftsmanship. A skilled craftsman is seen to care for the details in his work. He is ​sensitive to the strengths and weaknesses of material. While working closely with material, he explores the nature of material. He thinks about the durability of the work. He regards the quality work. His morals says, “No work is good, unless it is a quality work”.

There is always a risk arising out of unpredictability in creating. Technology (tools and machines) assists the craftsman to reduce this uncertainty. Technology works at increasing the accuracy, and consequently the quality of the work. Should technology aim to remove all of the uncertainty? If yes, the question arises ­who do we call a craftsman - the machine or the human driving the machine? is there any craft, which can be practiced without a technology? Isn’t the human hand a form of technology itself? Technology - applied in varying amounts will always have an impact on craft. The choice of how to apply the technology lies with the craftsman.

In context of the above, the project started touching upon the questions of ​what differentiates good craftsmanship from ordinary craftsmanship? Is it the methods that he follows or the technology he uses? Is it his mastery and experience in the field or his sensitivity to the material? The focus in the project is on craftsmanship defined by skills and methods followed while practicing crafts, which a craftsman learns from the experience.

Suthor is a context aware hammer. It is an attempt at reinforcing skilled craftsmanship within the context of woodworking. It talks about the experience of craftsman. It talks about care and attention payed by a good craftsman in his work. Suthor tries to make a statement by raising questions about ‘craftsmanship’, technology, material and techniques, all that encompasses an experience of the skilled craftsman.

Credits

Dr. Jignesh Khakhar, Arshad Pathan