Expanding the Boundaries of Traditional Enamel Plique à Jour through Hybrid Craft Practice

This practice based research investigates the traditional enamelling craft of plique à jour and approaches to innovation through hybrid craft. Today, while material science and technology provide potential opportunities for developing traditional craft, traditional making methods also promote new design thinking. Hybrid craft is a hybrid form of making, promoting the birth of new techniques through a combination of physical craft and digital technology. As a metal based enamel, plique à jour consists of enamel within a metal frame. A literature review revealed that in the past, the main techniques used to make the metal frames included piercing, wire soldering, and casting, with the enamel seen as a decorative material fired onto the metal body. The application of enamels and the making processes of metal frameworks have remained fundamentally the same since the 6th century A D. This study describes how the limits of these frames can be challenged by new design thinking, craft practice, and digital technology. This research uses reflection on studio practice as a practice based methodology and documentation to collect data, address issues, and achieve new findings. The studio practice is divided into four phases, starting with a new concept Mind the Gap (MTG) and initial material testing. The second phase of the experiments further validate the MTG notion mainly through the handmade approach. The third phase pursues precise modeling, with the production of metal scaffolding combined with digital technologies. The final phase explores the effective method of removing scaffolding, thus, rediscovering the value of traditional making knowledge. New enamelling technique and insights and have emerged in the use of enamel as a bonding agent in design, leading to the orderly connection of metal spheres as a bonding agent in design, leading to the orderly connection of metal spheres to the enamel through constructing modular scaffolding. After removing the to the enamel through constructing modular scaffolding. After removing the scaffold, new forms of enamel bridging and new visual languages were obtained, which expand the boundaries of traditional plique à jour. A new series of enamel objects, the Mind the Gap series, was achieved after iterative studio practices, providing a set of discoveries and potential for future practitioners and researchers in the field of craft and design