A design anthropology of collaborative making: Exploring shoemaking and embroidery practices

Design anthropology covers various design practices and research. While some researchers/pactitioners rely on anthropological insights to enhance design, others use design as a tool to gain anthropological knowledge. This paper explores the symbiotic relation between design and anthropology and proposes a ‘design anthropology of collaborative making’. It contributes to gaining insights in plural ways of knowing while providing contextual insights that inform design practices. Starting from a common skill from an ‘in-habitat’ position, we consider both perspectives and invite collaborative engagement between people and materiality. Based on collaborations with the San community in Namibia on shoemaking and with Syrian refugee women through embroidery, we explore the added value of this tactile engagement through making to bridge theory and practice. •Collaborative making to inform design practices and situated knowledge creation.•Common skills from an in-habitat position as a means of correspondence.•Values of design anthropology to collaborative design research practices.