‘It's in my hands’: Analytical tools for the communication of craft knowledge

Craft knowledge is built from examples of experience, and when experiences from many people are gathered and compared, new knowledge is developed. This requires either socialization between practitioners or a systematic collection of practice descriptions, such as in a manual. However, there is always a risk that knowledge that is difficult to put into words will never be communicated. The aim of this paper is to show how theoretical perspectives can be used as analytical tools to help us develop methods that support the communication of craft knowledge. Using an approach of research through practice in the field of gardening, and combining a tripartite theory of knowledge with a SECI-model analysis, I will discuss how it is possible to make practitioners’ subjective knowledge more readily available to others.