Ceramics as an accessible, home craft

As part of our year-long collaboration with designers and accessibility experts, we created the "Home Crafts" kit for independent work with clay.

The idea was born as a response to the pandemic lockdowns. We wanted to create an opportunity to practice crafts independently, in a way that was accessible to everyone, in any space, including at home.

We focused particularly on people with visual and hearing impairments. Through research and interviews, we identified user needs that we attempted to address.

While developing the set, we focused primarily on designing the path and communication for use, and we consulted with the target audience on an ongoing basis throughout each design stage. We wanted the user of "Home Craft" to feel as independent as possible in their work and creation of clay objects.

The set consists of:

• a plaster mold that acts as a double-sided last for imprinting objects
• 1 kg of self-hardening clay, secured in a polyester bag with a rubber closure
• a polyester work mat - protecting the table top and defining the work space, with a rubber coating on one side to prevent sliding
• a polyester toolbox with tools, attached to the work mat
• rubber scraper for working with clay
• round sponge (7 cm diameter)
• cotton cloth (30x50 cm)
• 3 reliefs that are examples of decorations that can be applied to clay
• hand cream
• a film containing work instructions, with audio description and translation into Polish Sign Language, produced in accordance with accessibility standards

Participants in this workshop are asked to supplement the kit they receive with items from their surroundings (a knife or a bowl of water). This invites them to explore their surroundings to find tools that create interesting textures on the surface of a clay object.

"Homemade crafts" can be used many times - the mat, the toolbox, and the clay bag are made of quick-drying, thickly woven and durable polyester fabrics.

The components are packaged in a cardboard box with contrasting graphics and a raised NFC sticker that, when touched with a smartphone, triggers an instructional video on the display. The project was created primarily for independent work at home, but it will also work well as a workshop framework for in-person meetings, both among self-organized groups (family and friends) and in various social and cultural institutions.

The set was developed as part of the "Good Innovations" program and the implementation of the "Accessible Poland - Accessibility to Design" project under the slogan "Creativity without barriers - participation of people with visual and hearing disabilities in creative processes".

Project supervisor

Cieszyn Castle

Project partner

Katarynka Foundation

Composition of the project team

Dominika Kulczyńska, Mateusz Peringer, Dominika Drop, Ignacy Borkowski, Bartłomiej Lis, Marta Trawińska, Viktoriia Tofan

Video and photos

Jerzy Wypych

Graphic design

Iwona Jarosz

Translation into Polish Sign Language

Elizabeth Resler

Audio description

Katarynka Foundation