Crafting lines

This article explores the significance of traditional Romani crafts, specifically wirework, as a vital component of Romani cultural heritage in Norway. It examines how these traditional practices, in which intangible cultural threads are interwoven with material skills, are transmitted and maintained, as well as how they find new meaning in contemporary design. The Guttormsgaard Archive serves as the primary research site—a space where products function as carriers of culture—and hosts a Romani wire workshop led by the musician and craftsman Elias Akselsen. Together, these elements provide a means of observing how the act of crafting lines, both literal and metaphorical, serves to preserve identity and foster an in-depth understanding of heritage. Through a qualitative case study methodology, including a workshop, interviews and participatory observations, combined with concepts of aesthetics and embodied consciousness, the research examines how material and narrative lines contribute to the contemporary role of craft in cultural preservation, education and societal comprehension.