Sasson Rafailov

Craft Consciousness: Learning to Design for a Posthuman Public

Sasson Rafailov is a theorist and designer whose work is situated at the intersection of new materialist philosophy, craft theory, and philosophy of education. His dissertation will propose a new approach to craft in the educational training of architects and designers through the lens of posthumanist philosophy. Specifically, the project will borrow concepts from new materialist literature, like agential realism, material intelligence, embodiment, and non-hierarchical or “flat” ontologies, to propose a vision of craft that allows humans to engage with the material world in more genuine and sustainable ways. Craft will be understood as a way of being with materials which inspires humans gain awareness of their place in a complex agential network, to see themselves as mutually constituted by/with the material agents in that system, and to tie the health and well being of the material world to our own sense of physical and spiritual fulfillment. This redefinition of craft will encourage architects and designers to employ an ethics of care in their engagement with materials, and will prepare them to be benevolent members of a public whose membership extends far beyond the human. The field of higher education in the United States was selected as the primary site for this research because of its historical commitment to the public good and its continual transformation around issues of social justice and inclusion. Enduring debates in the philosophy of education, like those concerning the sources of human knowledge and learning, the responsibilities of the public to its students and vice versa, and access to educational resources, will all be reconsidered through the same posthumanist concepts which qualify the preceding discussion on a new approach to craft.

Sasson graduated with a B. Arch from Cornell University in 2018, where he pursued research in design pedagogy for his thesis project. He then went on to teach design studio and a foundational theory course at the University at Buffalo’s School of Architecture and Planning, and subsequently enrolled in Harvard University’s Master of Design Program, where he graduated in 2021. He is also an avid craftsperson and designer, and has exhibited work in a variety of materials in domestic and international venues.