Crafting Platforms: Student rebellion, gender struggles and collectivism in Danish crafts 1969-77

During the 1960s the role of arts and crafts changed significantly in Denmark. Among other things, the art and craft education moved from a traditional training seen as vocational craft towards freedom for student’s own choices be it an artistic practice or new conceptions of craft and design in society. For female students this gradually opened new opportunities to earn a living and strive for an independent, professional carrier. This came, of course, not of itself, but through fights in every step across educational reforms, artistic experiments, collectivist movements and challenging the consumer society. We look at the student rebellion in 1969 at the Copenhagen School of Arts and Crafts; women’s craft practice in the commune movement; the collective crafts store, Elverhøj, established in 1971; and the gender activism of art exhibitions, where craft served the new feminist agendas. A recurrent theme across these platforms is the interweaving of collaboration and everyday life in sizing upon the new opportunities and in forging viable livelihoods through craft-making.