Offering a challenging new argument for the collaborative power of craft, this ground-breaking volume analyses the philosophies, politics and practicalities of collaborative craft work. The book is accessibly organised into four sections covering the cooperation and compromises required by the collaborative process; the potential of recent technological advances for the field of craft; the implications of cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural collaborations for authority and ownership; and the impact of crafted collaborations on the institutions where we work, learn and teach. With cutting-edge essays by established makers and artists such as Allison Smith (US) and Brass Art (UK), curator Lesley Millar, textile designer Trish Belford and distinguished thinker Glenn Adamson, Collaborating Through Craft will be essential reading for students, artists, makers, curators and scholars across a number of fields.

Machine Embroidery is hugely exciting in terms of its potential as a creative medium and is part of a flourishing creative industry both in design and production. MMU hosts a specialist embroidery department, which has been instrumental in artistic and educational innovations in this area since the 1960s. The lecturers, graduates and students have remarkable expertise in machine embroidery, and MMU is home to a rich and unique archive of machines, samples and artwork, both historical and contemporary. This book will celebrate this archive, as well as providing the only definitive record (and exploring the potential) of the huge number of machines currently in use from the traditional Irish Embroidery machine to the new generation of computerised sewing machines. The book will demonstrate how key machines can be applied to the artistic, industrial and domestic practice, and shows machine embroiderers how to combine techniques and develop their ideas using machine embroidery. Each contributor gives their own individual perspective on machine stitch.