Prospective Study of Trends in Craftsmanship Based on Contributions from the Craft Sciences (2016–2024)

This article explores the possible futures of contemporary craftsmanship through a foresight exercise based on the Delphi method. Building on previous research into scenarios for craftsmanship and design in Spain (Martínez Torán et al. 2017), ten emerging scenarios drawn from recent academic literature—particularly The Journal of Modern Craft and Craft Research—are identified and evaluated. Consultation with a panel of experts in the fields of design, material culture, and craft enabled the prioritisation of trends and an assessment of their potential impact on other sectors. The results highlight sustainable neo-craft, biomaterials, craftivism and digital crafts as central scenarios, alongside the figure of the craft entrepreneur, collaborative design and the revaluation of trades as complementary themes. The study emphasises the importance of sustainability, material innovation, the social dimension, and technological hybridisation in shaping the future of craftsmanship. It also compares these findings with the scenarios proposed in 2017, highlighting continuities, transformations and areas that remain largely unexplored, such as the role of the active consumer and the integration of biomaterials. The research concludes that craftsmanship is consolidating as a cultural and economic practice in transformation