Rewilding Human Life: An Annotated Portfolio of Seasonal Crafts with Children

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Authors: Karey Helms, Meike Schalk, Airi Lampinen
Cited by: 0
References: 52

Abstract

We explore rewilding human life as a deliberate engagement with the environments people care about to cultivate wonder. This is through an annotated portfolio of seasonal crafts completed by the first author in her home and local outdoor places with family, friends, and neighbors. The crafts are based upon monthly activities from a Swedish children's book on experimenting with nature. We present the process and outcomes of forty activities, and annotate encounters with wildness and wonder. From this visual calendar, we reflect upon tensions within seasonal crafts as a regenerative design practice that bridges nature-entangled design with social sustainability. This includes the role of technology in rewilding human life, the frivolity of everyday crafts, and the inclusion of children in ecological care. We contribute practice-based examples of rewilding human life and call for a diversity of ages in designing more-than-human relations differently.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Sustainable Design and Development Crafts Textile and Design Posthumanist Ethics and Activism

Publication details

Journal / source
International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (TEI)
Pages
1–15
Publication date
7 March 2026
Language
EN