Craft

Craft as a degree subject reclaims the word from its association with mere hobby making and treats it instead as a serious discipline at the intersection of art, design, and material culture. It is concerned with the relationship between hand and material, between the thinking maker and the object being made, and with the cultural and social significance of objects, their history, and the values they embody. Craft education at its best develops both technical mastery of materials and a thoughtful, critical understanding of why making matters.

At Manchester Metropolitan University this three-year full-time programme welcomes students from all creative backgrounds who are curious about design, materials, objects, and making. The programme has a material-led, experimental philosophy, built on a thinking-through-making approach that places direct engagement with materials at the centre of creative and intellectual development. You will work with a range of materials and processes, developing your technical skills and your ability to use materials as a medium for expressing ideas, challenging assumptions, and developing a distinctive creative voice.

A sandwich year provides the opportunity to spend time working in a professional context, gaining industry experience and building the networks that are important in a field where many practitioners work freelance or in small studios. Work placements are integrated throughout the programme, ensuring that the connection between making, thinking, and professional practice runs across your studies.

Graduates of craft programmes work as independent makers, in design studios, in arts and cultural organisations, in education, in the luxury goods and fashion industries, and in a wide range of other contexts where the ability to think creatively through making is valued. Many also go on to postgraduate study in craft, design, or related fields, developing their practice and building towards careers in teaching, research, or specialist professional practice.