AvantCRAFT: a Digital Archive of Craftsmanship Know-How
Project Manager
Unioncamere Emilia-Romagna
Elisa Protti
Projects coordinator
CNA Innovazione
AvantCRAFT is a project aiming at creating a digital archive of craft businesses know-how.
Among workshops and artisan ateliers, the Emilia-Romagna Region preserves a heritage where the gestures of tradition meet innovation, the beauty of making, and the creative strength of know-how. Today, thanks to the AvantCRAFT project, this heritage can look to the future without losing its roots.
Funded by the Emilia-Romagna ERDF 2021-2027 Programme, the project has an ambitious goal: to build a digital archive of artisan knowledge through advanced digitisation and simulation tools.
Specifically, the project’s strategic objectives are:
- Defining an innovative methodology using integrated technologies to preserve, enhance, and transfer data on artisanal production techniques
- Creating software platforms capable of preserving, exploiting, and combining digitized data relating to artisanal production techniques, including tools, work instruments, environments, and movements
- Create an inclusive and accessible immersive user experience for the transmission of artisanal know-how and define guidelines for the development of business models.
AvantCRAFT was created to enhance and preserve both tangible heritage (tools, environments, movements) and intangible heritage (gestures, techniques, knowledge) of artisanal work and it provides businesses with tools to improve the competitiveness of artistic craftsmanship. AvantCRAFT also aims to foster skills development for the training of new skilled artisans through inclusive and adaptable technological solutions. It adopts an inclusive, accessible, and technologically innovative approach, designed to transmit skills and train new generations of qualified artisans.
A project that brings together skills, enterprises, and research The strength of AvantCRAFT lies in a public-private partnership uniting research institutions, technology laboratories, and craft enterprises.
Among the promoters:
- DHMORE, the digital humanities research centre of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, responsible for 3D digitisation of objects and working environments. The Center aims to support the growth of cultural and creative businesses. It develops cataloging, metadata, and augmented-media systems. It will address the needs of artisan businesses with a view to preserving tangible and intangible assets: it digitizes physical objects and work environments in 3D and archives them in dedicated libraries.
- INTERMECH, specialised in advanced simulation and motion analysis. This research center specializes in advanced simulation for industrial design, with a background in local manufacturing processes. It has expertise in vision systems for object recognition, motion capture of process operations, and the integration of this data into digital models. It will develop a model for capturing artisan gestures and integrating them into a simulation software environment for digital reconstruction. It will support partners in defining requirements and gathering project input.
- RE:LAB, a reference laboratory for the development of human-machine interfaces and user experience. It is a laboratory accredited by the Emilia-Romagna High Technology Network with consolidated experience and expertise in Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) and UI/UX for operating systems in various sectors and contexts, including critical ones. It will support the definition of technical requirements, integration phases, and the development of guidelines. It will be responsible for the design, development, and validation of multimodal HMIs integrated with various enabling technologies.
- CNA Innovazione, the technology transfer and innovation area of CNA Emilia-Romagna, a regionally accredited centre for research and innovation, fostering dialogue between science and enterprises through technology transfer and joint project development. CNA Innovazione will be responsible for disseminating the results through outreach activities and managing communication tools, to stimulate the regional entrepreneurial system and ensure the results achieve a broad impact on local supply chains.
Three craft enterprises are directly involved:
- Cló by Claudia B, a benchmark in prêt-à-porter women’s fashion
- Bianco Accessori, specialised in decorations for fashion accessories, footwear, and leather goods
- Brandoli Egidio, focused on metalwork, restoration of car bodies, and all their components.
These enterprises provide their expertise and working environments as pilot cases for data collection and the creation of the first immersive environments. A five-phase path AvantCRAFT is structured into five main phases, leading to the creation of an immersive experience and a replicable model for the entire sector:
1. Listening and analysis: the project begins with dialogue with stakeholders to identify the needs and expectations of the craft sector.
2. Process design: a methodology is defined to acquire and digitise data related to artisanal techniques, tools, and working spaces.
3. Digitisation and testing: data is collected through inspections and pilot tests, creating a database for the construction of the training experience.
4. Immersive experience: a virtual, accessible, and inclusive environment is developed to transmit know-how effectively and safely.
5. Guidelines and business models: finally, the project will produce guidelines to extend the model to other craft realities and to develop new entrepreneurial models.
Beyond memory: a tool for the future AvantCRAFT is not just about preservation: it is a project of innovation and transmission, placing people and the value of skills at the centre. Artisan knowledge, if well documented and shared, becomes a resource for economic, cultural, and social growth. At a time when many professions risk disappearing, AvantCRAFT represents a concrete response to the need to pass on crafts, fostering dialogue between tradition and innovation, memory and future.