When Skillful Participation Becomes Design

Design, use, and participation intersect in novel ways when a diverse community of people come together to make clothes. Anja-Lisa Hirscher’s book examines the fluidity that flourishes at these intersections moreby introducing findings from three “research through design” experiments which brought communities together to sew, upcycle, and design new garments. The study examines concepts of skillful participation in alternative spaces of peer production and the designer’s role in facilitating the social and material aspects of making clothes together.