Reclaiming Play: The Development of a Tactile Manifesto

This paper explores faculty burnout, creativity, and play in design academia through a collaborative project involving four fashion design educators. The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative, practice-based study using reflective journaling and textile artifact creation to examine how play influences creative resilience in a research-intensive design environment. Design instructors play a critical role in contributing to the development of creative spaces, people, and projects yet there is a disconnect between the responsibilities of teaching in the academy and the cultivation of creative inspiration and wellbeing. The disconnect between faculty burnout and the need to create communities of practice where play and experimentation are foundational, was the catalyst for this project. Creativity itself is a complex phenomenon that has important implications for industry and academia alike. In this project, each educator created a textile object and rated the experience according to five criteria for play: Active engagement (flow), internal motivation, pretense (internal reality, freedom from fear of failure or anxiety), spontaneity, and positive affect. Scholars explored the relationship between ‘making’ as a determinant of creative energy and a method of ameliorating burnout. The results of this project show that integrating tactile, play-based making into scholarly practice can foster creative self-efficacy and innovation. The results speak to the importance of further research into creativity, play, and care in fashion design practice. The conclusion of this project underscores the importance of building communities of practice centered around creative liberation.