Social interaction on craft fairs

Instances of communality, visibility, and trade

Forfattere

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7577/formakademisk.5404

Emneord (Nøkkelord):

craft fairs, marketplaces, arts and crafts, social interaction, collaboration, information, economic action

Sammendrag

Although digitalisation has had an impact on the business of fairs, especially during the years of the pandemic, the Covid-19 crisis has clearly shown that social interaction is vital for small businesses, such as craft enterprises. The physical co-presence of craft objects, makers and users as well as the immediateness of personal contact play a major role at craft fairs. Fairs revolve around trade, which is furthered by the many cultural and social aspects that constitute them. We argue that social interaction in marketplaces goes beyond economic transactions and show that face-to-face interactions are essential for building trust and social order. We identify different types of social interaction at craft fairs, all of which are collaborative ‒ fostering a sense of community, developing products and increasing their visibility ‒ in addition to being an economic transaction. This study is based on ethnographic research on craft fairs and craft producers in the field of furniture and garment making. We conclude by arguing that the findings on craft fairs can also be generalised to other cases.

Forfatterbiografier

Judith Nyfeler, Seminar of Sociology, SHSS, University of St. Gallen

Dr. Phil. 

Patrik Aspers, University of St. Gallen

Dr. Phil. 

Referanser

Ahrne, G., & Brunsson, N. (2011). Organisation outside organisations: The significance of partial organisation. Organisation, 18(1), 83–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508410376256

Allix, A. (1922). The geography of fairs: Illustrated by old-world examples. Geographical Review, 12(4), 532–569. https://doi.org/10.2307/208590

Anand, N., & Peterson, R. A. (2000). When market information constitutes fields: Sensemaking of markets in the commercial music industry. Organisation Science, 11(3), 270–284. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.11.3.270.12502

Aspers, P., & Darr, A. (2011). Trade shows and the creation of market and industry. The Sociological Review, 59(4), 758–778. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2011.02031.x

Aspers, P., & Darr, A. (2022). The social infrastructure of online marketplaces: Trade, work and the interplay of decided and emergent orders. The British Journal of Sociology, 73(4), 822–838. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12965

Bell, E., Dacin, M. T., & Toraldo, M. L. (2021). Craft imaginaries – past, present and future. Organisation Theory, 2(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/2631787721991141

Bell, E., & Vachhani, S. J. (2020). Relational encounters and vital materiality in the practice of craft work. Organisation Studies, 41(5), 681–701. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840619866482

Braudel, F. (1982). Civilization and capitalism 15th-18th century. Volume II: The wheels of commerce. William Collins Sons & Co.

Chen, K. K. (2009). Enabling creative chaos. The University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226102399.001.0001

DiMaggio, Paul J., & Powell, Walter W. (1983). The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147–160. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095101

Entwistle, J., & Rocamora, A. (2006). The field of fashion materialized: A study of London fashion week. Sociology, 40(4), 735–751. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038506065158

Jourdain, A. (2022). From small craft fair to international interior design trade show: How Maison&Objet structured fine crafts in France (1949-2021). In A. Béliard & S. Naulin (Eds.), Trade shows in the 21st century. The role of events in structuring careers and professions (pp. 103–121). Edward Elgar. https://doi.og/10.4337/9781800886049.00015

Kroezen, J., & Heugens, P. P. M. A. R. (2019). What is dead may never die: Institutional regeneration through logic reemergence in Dutch beer brewing. Administrative Science Quarterly, 64(4), 976–1019. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839218817520

Krugh, M. (2014). Joy in labour: The politicization of craft from the arts and crafts movement to Etsy. Canadian Review of American Studies, 44(2), 281–301. https://doi.org/10.3138/CRAS.2014.S06

Lampel, J., & Meyer, A. D. (2008). Guest editors’ introduction: Field-configuring events as structuring mechanisms: How conferences, ceremonies, and trade shows constitute new technologies, industries, and markets. Journal of Management Studies, 45(6), 1025–1035. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2008.00787.x

Luckman, S. (2013). The aura of the analogue in a digital age: Women’s crafts, creative markets and home-based labour after Etsy. Cultural Studies Review, 19(1), 249–270. https://doi.org/10.5130/csr.v19i1.2585

Mangematin, V., Sapsed, J., & Schüssler, E. (2014). Disassembly and reassembly: An introduction to the special issue on digital technology and creative industries. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 83(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2014.01.002

Maskell, P. (2014). Accessing remote knowledge—The roles of trade fairs, pipelines, crowdsourcing and listening posts. Journal of Economic Geography, 14(5), 883–902. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbu002

Moeran, B., & Strandgaard Pedersen, J. (Eds.). (2011). Negotiating values in the creative industries: Fairs, festivals and competitive events. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511790393

Naulin, S., & Béliard, A. (2022). Introduction: The role of professional events in structuring careers and professions . In A. Béliard & S. Naulin (Eds.), Trade shows in the 21st century. The role of events in structuring careers and professions (pp. 1–19). Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800886049.00008

Petkova, I. (2016). Between high-tech and high-fashion: How e-commerce fashion organisations gain moral and pragmatic legitimacy in the fashion field. Poetics, 57, 55–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2016.04.001

Poni, C. (2002). Fashion as flexible production: The strategies of the Lyons silk merchants in the eighteenth century. In C. F. Sabel & J. Zeitlin (Eds.), World of possibilities (pp. 37–74). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511563652.002

Potier, V. (2022). ‘Not working... Networking!’ Scripting and shaping conviviality in trade events. In A. Béliard & S. Naulin (Eds.), Trade shows in the 21st century. The role of events in structuring careers and professions (pp. 139–155). Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800886049.00017

Raffaelli, R. (2019). Technology reemergence: Creating new value for old technologies in Swiss mechanical watchmaking, 1970–2008. Administrative Science Quarterly, 64(3), 576–618. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839218778505

Skov, L. (2006). The role of trade fairs in the global fashion business. Current Sociology, 54(5), 764–783. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392106066815

Tavory, I., & Timmermans, S. (2014). Abductive analysis. Theorizing qualitative research. The University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226180458.001.0001

credit Franziska Heinl/Fidea Design

Nedlastinger

Publisert

2023-09-21

Hvordan referere

Nyfeler, J., & Aspers, P. (2023). Social interaction on craft fairs: Instances of communality, visibility, and trade . FormAkademisk, 16(4). https://doi.org/10.7577/formakademisk.5404

Cited by