Signs of Artisanal Intelligence
Behold, 10 signals of craft from the future
Nation of Artisans is a quest to spark a renaissance at the intersection of heritage craft, industrial power, and cutting-edge innovation. Why? To heal the nation’s soul and economy, of course. Here’s a reminder.
TL;DR: Ahead of hard-launching the £60,000 British Cræft Prize next week, I list ten examples of what I call “artisanal intelligence”. That is, emerging tech with heritage craft characteristics.
These days, you say AI can make beauty, you get arrested and thrown in jail. AI is slop. There is no alternative. To believe AI can do anything other than enshittify the world makes you, at best, stupid and at worst, evil.
Must it be this way?
I’m fascinated by the intersection between craftsmanship and technology. Craft — or indeed “cræft” — is the virtuous application of power, knowledge, skill, and insight in a deep alignment between head, hand, eye, and heart to forge excellence. Should emerging technologies be banished from this alchemy?
Further, as William Morris argues, one must make a distinction between Useful Work versus Useless Toil. As proven by Oli Jessop, the apprenticeless luthier armed with a trusty woodcutting CNC machine, robots can empower craftspeople to eliminate the toil, raise their ambition, and make marvellous and wacky new things.
Thus, if AI can extend the mind and curb the toil, then perhaps it should be welcomed by the artisans, rather than disdained. Dare I say, could AI forge wondrous new pathways to aesthetic and cultural flourishing?
Now is not the time to poke the open wound of the AI and beauty debate. Rather, ahead of the formal launch of the British Cræft Prize, I want to showcase some illustrations of what a supersonic techno-cræfted future could look like.
Behold, 10 signs of artisanal intelligence that offer a glimpse into a whole new paradigm of technology and craft. Reserve your judgment.
1. Not Quite Past
Heritage tiles × Generative AI × Digital ceramic printing
Founded in London in 2024 by Jack Marsh and Adam Davies, Not Quite Past uses Generative AI to help people co-create historically inspired designs. Their initial focus is on custom Delft-style tiles, which are produced using digital ceramic printing and fired in the traditional heart of the industry, Stoke-on-Trent. They also do wallpaper. Disclaimer: Not Quite Past are long-time friends and inspirers of Nation of Artisans, and you should AI cræft some tiles.
2. Monumental Labs
Stone carving × Robotics
New York–based Monumental Labs is building an AI-powered robotic fabrication workshop for stone. Founded by Micah Springut, the firm uses robots to handle the useless toil of heavy machining, allowing humans to focus on high-level artistic finishing and specialized craft training. The firm wants to scale beauty rather than replace the dwindling numbers of stonemasons.
3. Petit Pli
Origami × Advanced materials × Childrenswear
Founded by Ryan Mario Yasin, Petit Pli engineers garments that expand as children grow. Using pleated structures inspired by origami, they aim reduce global textile waste and the cost of buying clothes for growing young tots.
4. Tavs Jørgensen’s Adobe Bricks
Adobe × 3D printing x extrusion x brickmaking
Researcher Tavs Jørgensen makes 3D printed molds that extrude adobe/ cob-based bricks. Tavs’ work demonstrates how accessible digital fabrication can modernize vernacular, sustainable construction methods.
5. WikiHouse
Korean heritage timber joinery × CNC milling × Open-source building
WikiHouse is an open-source construction system using digitally fabricated timber. The system uses sophisticated Korean-inspired wedge-and-peg joinery, allowing for a precise file-to-factory workflow where houses can be assembled by hand with minimal tooling.
6. ENLACE // Bistrot Chairs
Heritage bistot chair rattan × Generative patterns
ENLACE is a series of café chairs hand-crafted by Maison Louis Drucker, featuring weave designs generated by an algorithm from Aranda\Lasch. The project bridges generative design and the legacy of manual rattan weaving.
7. Zaha Hadid’s Striatus Bridge
Voussoir masonry × 3D-printed concrete blocks
The Striatus Bridge is a 3D-printed concrete footbridge assembled without mortar or metal reinforcement. By using individual voussoirs, the design revives classical compression masonry logic through the lens of advanced computational geometry.
8. Sony’s AI Nishijin-ori
Diffusion models × Wagara × Kimono weaving
Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Kyoto uses AI to generate textile “wagara” patterns for Nishijin-ori, a 1,200-year-old weaving tradition. Human artisans curate the AI outputs, translating digital prompts into complex, physically woven silk.
9. The Warp
Japanese kigoroshi joinery × 3D-printed wood waste × Modular architecture
Unveiled by Mitsubishi Jisho Design at Dubai Design Week 2024, The Warp is a tea house pavilion constructed from a regenerative wood filament made of recycled sawdust. The structure consists of 900 uniquely shaped, 3D-printed panels that interlock using traditional Japanese joinery (glue-less and nail-less), allowing the complex, twisting form to be assembled and disassembled by hand like a giant puzzle.
10. Archi-Union’s Neo-Jali Bricklaying
Robotic bricklaying × Parametric Jali modelling
Shanghai-based Archi-Union Architects used robotic fabrication to create the curved, bulging facades. The project’s complex parametric bricklaying and intricate Jali-like perforated screen patterns would be impossible to execute without the precision of AI-driven robotics.
What does it all mean?
Now, these are the sort of things I’m looking for in the soon-to-launched £60,000 British Cræft Prize. If that’s news to you, check this out:
I plan to build on this list. This prize should forge many more things like it to prove that AI need not make slop, it can make beauty too.
Until next time.