The Golden Handicrafts (Altın El Sanatları – AES) project, carried out within the Faculty of Fine Arts at Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU), is being transferred to the digital environment with the aim of documenting, preserving, and making the cultural knowledge associated with traditional crafts researchable. The project encompasses the development of a digital museum, research archive, and knowledge infrastructure. Golden Handicrafts (AES) approaches crafts not solely through finished artefacts, but through interconnected components such as artisans, techniques, materials, tools, motifs, terminology, geography, communities, artefacts, and processes of transmission. Through its relational documentation approach, the project aims to systematically record production knowledge and cultural contexts, contributing to the visibility and preservation of the cultural heritage associated with traditional crafts and its transmission to future generations.
The Golden Handicrafts (Altın El Sanatları – AES) project, carried out within the Faculty of Fine Arts at Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU), is being transferred to the digital environment with the aim of documenting, preserving, and making the cultural knowledge associated with traditional crafts researchable. Within the scope of the project, a digital museum, research archive, and knowledge infrastructure is being developed to address traditional crafts through a comprehensive and integrated approach.
Through the transfer of Golden Handicrafts to the digital environment, the project aims not only to systematically document information and materials related to traditional crafts but also to make the relationships among different cultural elements visible and researchable. Rather than approaching crafts solely through finished artefacts, the project examines them through interconnected components such as artisans, techniques, materials, tools, motifs, terminology, geography, communities, artefacts, and processes of transmission.
The relational documentation model, which constitutes the core methodological approach of the project, enables the production processes of traditional crafts to be documented together with their cultural and social contexts. Accordingly, the techniques and materials employed by artisans, tools and terminology specific to production practices, the geographical and social contexts of motifs, and the intergenerational transmission of production knowledge are addressed within an integrated framework. In this way, data related to traditional crafts are brought together in the digital environment not as isolated records, but as interconnected elements of cultural knowledge.
The digital infrastructure being developed also aims to establish a sustainable archive for the preservation of cultural heritage and its transmission to future generations. Digitally documenting artisans’ production practices, materials, local terminology, technical knowledge, and production processes will contribute to safeguarding forms of cultural knowledge that may transform over time or face the risk of disappearing.
By integrating research, documentation, preservation, interpretation, archiving, and knowledge sharing within a unified structure, Golden Handicrafts approaches traditional crafts not as static cultural elements belonging solely to the past, but as a dynamic field of cultural heritage in which processes of production and transmission continue to evolve. The digital infrastructure is intended to serve as a comprehensive research and reference resource for researchers, students, educators, artisans, and professionals working in the field of cultural heritage.
Through the transfer of Golden Handicrafts to the digital environment, the project aims to establish a digital knowledge infrastructure in which production knowledge, cultural contexts, and processes of transmission associated with traditional crafts can be documented systematically and relationally. In this respect, the project seeks to contribute to enhancing the visibility and preservation of the cultural heritage associated with traditional crafts and facilitating its transmission to future generations.
Through the transfer of Golden Handicrafts to the digital environment, the project aims not only to systematically document information and materials related to traditional crafts but also to make the relationships among different cultural elements visible and researchable. Rather than approaching crafts solely through finished artefacts, the project examines them through interconnected components such as artisans, techniques, materials, tools, motifs, terminology, geography, communities, artefacts, and processes of transmission.
The relational documentation model, which constitutes the core methodological approach of the project, enables the production processes of traditional crafts to be documented together with their cultural and social contexts. Accordingly, the techniques and materials employed by artisans, tools and terminology specific to production practices, the geographical and social contexts of motifs, and the intergenerational transmission of production knowledge are addressed within an integrated framework. In this way, data related to traditional crafts are brought together in the digital environment not as isolated records, but as interconnected elements of cultural knowledge.
The digital infrastructure being developed also aims to establish a sustainable archive for the preservation of cultural heritage and its transmission to future generations. Digitally documenting artisans’ production practices, materials, local terminology, technical knowledge, and production processes will contribute to safeguarding forms of cultural knowledge that may transform over time or face the risk of disappearing.
By integrating research, documentation, preservation, interpretation, archiving, and knowledge sharing within a unified structure, Golden Handicrafts approaches traditional crafts not as static cultural elements belonging solely to the past, but as a dynamic field of cultural heritage in which processes of production and transmission continue to evolve. The digital infrastructure is intended to serve as a comprehensive research and reference resource for researchers, students, educators, artisans, and professionals working in the field of cultural heritage.
Through the transfer of Golden Handicrafts to the digital environment, the project aims to establish a digital knowledge infrastructure in which production knowledge, cultural contexts, and processes of transmission associated with traditional crafts can be documented systematically and relationally. In this respect, the project seeks to contribute to enhancing the visibility and preservation of the cultural heritage associated with traditional crafts and facilitating its transmission to future generations.