Crafts in Latin America: The contribution of the Fab Labs in the promotion of resilient communities

We researched the work process between traditional artisans and architects with programming and fabricating skills in Latin America. Kinnunen (2015) proposed that craft inside maker culture must grow resilient against, or adapt to, exogenous forces. In this research, we analysed the contribution of Latin America FabLabs in the context of contemporary making practice with traditional craft, showing as stated by Borges (2015:11), that Latin American craft is produced collectively in adverse conditions and in rural and marginal areas. We conclude that the contribution of algorithmic craft (Jacobs, 2013), digital fabrication and Machines that make (Lassiter, 2013:253) in the Latin American context overcame computerized technologies, which only contributed to the object’s presentation (Duque et al. 2005:73). We validated that the renaissance of craft is as promising in Latin America (Borges 2015:14) as in many western countries (Kinnunen, 2015). We state that these cases promote a creative compromise responding to changing conditions in local economy, which also lies at the core of resilience. An impulse, which promotes the opportunity, construction and sustainability of resilient communities, improving and perpetuating in the region, the identity of its designs and its popular traditions, using programming and digital fabrication through the Fab Lab.