Craft Tellers' Rooms

Before you start reading, keep in mind that this is the digital version of an experience that goes beyond sight, appeals to more senses, consists of textures, smells, and even flavors.

I hope we can meet on a real life occasion for tea time!

“When there is a risk of getting lost, we follow a thread. It allows us to find our way as we enter a disorienting labyrinth… A thread is our connection with a future we cannot simply anticipate. It protects us from confusion and takes us to a place we must still discover…”

Alexander García Duttmann

Considerations:

Daily, we as human beings are involved with one another Interacting in different ways and having conversations lies at the core of human connection. Have you ever thought what kind of conversations are you having?

This booklet is a toolkit to create encounters between civil servants and citizens without hierarchical distinction, giving space for the emergence of meaningful conversations from an appreciative perspective. The core lies in understanding others’ perspectives without judgment, creating shared understanding, building trust and inspiring connections.

The Province of North Brabant is looking for strategies to get in touch to people, and Craft Tellers’ Rooms give the organisation a face, and humanizes the conversations. Collecting over tea, cookies and wool, stories, the voices and opinions of Brabant citizens that can be heard. They can be taken into account within the different processes that are carried out in the province’s transition tasks ,for a more equitable socially and environmentally aware provincial government.

The meetings highlight the importance of connecting thoughts while people make something with their hands. Craft s a way to reconnect with each other, with tangible materials and no digital interference, while igniting sensory interaction and looking for deep and honest conversation.

If we reconsider the way we now have hurried conversations and start having meaningful conversations by taking the time necessary to do so, and compare this to the idea of repairing, taking the time to mending and give new life instead of buying new items, then we can say that we are embodying a revolutionary act against the structure imposed on us by the system.

On the following pages, I invite you to have a cup of tea while you mend those conversations you did not finish.

1. Spend a few minutes linking your hands and your thoughts. Put your favorite thread color in the needle, take the teabag, and freely embroider it You can share a cup of tea with someone in the meanwhile, maybe, you are also missing a meaningful conversation.

2. Prepare to connect the thread to the needle, the needle to the surface, the surface to your desires, and so on and so forth. Craft Tellers’ Rooms is not just a meeting is a connection maker.

3. At the end of the pages, you are ready to share a cup of tea and start a new Craft Teller Room.

Manufacturing note:

Before we start weaving/connecting our stories, I'd like to briefly tell you mine, so you know what brought me here. My name is Laura; I am pleased to meet you Few months ago I moved from Bogotá, Colombia to Breda, The Netherlands. To start a Master Imagineering studies. During this time, I have felt the need to connect. There has been a period of isolation due to the Covid pandemic, where hyperconnectivity has played both for and against relationships and interactions. In my role as foreigner in this country, I wonder how I can reconnect with others, how I can have open and honest conversations, and how I can inspire others to meet again in safe, quiet, comfortable spaces.

Meanwhile, the province of North Brabant is wonders about the "unknown voices” (stories that remain hidden in terms of participation), who they are, where they are, and how to connect with them. I have decided to describe the "unknown voices" as follows: Everyone is unknown until they make the right connections At that moment, those voices are heard and the dialogue can begin.

My interest in connection, and the province’s need to identify unknown voices converge in: “Craft Tellers’ Rooms”.

SAFETY /CARE-WARNINGS

WARNING: IMPORTANT HEALTH AND SAFETY INFORMATION; READ BEFORE USE TO REDUCE THE RISK OF PERSONAL INJURY, DISCOMFORT, PROPERTY DAMAGE, INCLUDING DAMAGE /CHANGE OF YOUR PERSPECTIVE.

Craft: More than only a skill of making artisanal pieces by hand, being able to be engaged to the material while interacting with others and your surroundings.

Teller: A genuine storyteller who is open and honest with his/her stories.

Room: Inspirational safe space to co-create and let meaningful conversations emerge.

Communication is key: What is the story that you want to tell? We need to be precise about the words we use to share our stories and connect. Communication also means listening to others. Give them space to express themselves

Empathise: The meetings are a safe space for sharing stories, this is a judgment-free zone

Play a role: Allow yourselves and one another to be vulnerable, transparent, and open You are not representing specific interests, persons, or causes beyond your own values, needs, and passions. Allow yourself just to ‘be’. It is important to tell that you are not trying to achieve anything, you are having a conversation.

Couriosity: What inspires you? Let yourself get caught up in your curiosity as you enter this new space, getting to know new people and new experiences without prejudice getting in the way.

Where: Province of North Brabant

What: Meetings in inspirational places within the province where textiles take stage and where cosy and diverse conversations emerge while everyone practices a textile craft or fiber art (crochet, embroidery, knitting, macramé) The goal is to gather information, both about the issues that people are concerned about and identifying the unknown voices that want to be heard. As a result, true connection may be experienced between participants, producers, hosts and facilitators

How: Making is the key, when people have something to do with their hands during the conversation they are placed in a comfortable zone where they don’t feel they are in the spot. Making is connected to the thinking process: while people make they are building reflections, and unwinding thoughts They are able to listen carefully, speak openly, and share from their sensibility.

It is now time to begin following the thread by making the first connections you need to create a Craft Tellers Room, so our stories can be woven, knitted, intertwined and eventually stand the test of time.

Instructions:

Welcome to the Craft Tellers' Rooms. When you decided to be curious, you started to co-create.

The following is a non-linear process to begin writing a new story with the meetings.

Feel free to start at whatever point you feel most comfortable, and I hope to see you at the next Craft Tellers' Room. Are you ready?

IMAGINEERING APPROACH

Inspiration - Topic definition for the conversations

A-ppreciating: To understand, analyze and appreciate the strengths of the system that is being investigated

B-reathing: To cool down, re-think and zoom-out, to get the whole picture This phase helps to avoid jumping to conclusions too soon

Ideation - Define rooms (Hosts) and environment of the meetings

C-reating: To work toward the main goal and give meaning to the path that creates a concept which supports the desires of the meeting.

D-Developing: To involve, evolve and emerge. In this phase, you engage all of the important actors try out the ideas, fail and iterate.

Mental Note.

People need authentic relationships These encounters are about weaving them. Not just about the craft or the conversations during the meetings, but about what happens around it, what happens before and after you and the group sit around the table. This connection has no words, only feelings.

“People in the community are in need of assets and it can be anything that can be a place like this, can be networks, it can be knowledge, can be money, can be anything. But it needs to be seen by the people themselves. And then from there they build something …So we need to bridge that. But it can't start from the institutions bringing activities just to people. So it really needs to be the other way around”

Ger Pepels – Teller in Craft Tellers’ Rooms FutureLab Lochal (June

10-2022)

The facilitator: Who organizes the meetings and drives the conversation.

The cofacilitator/s: Who takes care of the details, keeps track of the conversation and goes deeper with the questions

The host/s: People in charge of the inspirational places where the meetings take place.

The producer/s: Who assigns the challenge and finances the meetings.

The Tellers: All participants who are open to share their stories

Follow the Thread

Step 1: Define roles and topic for the conversations during the meetings.

The process starts with the facilitator and the producer., It is important to have sessions together were they decide the topic and the scale of the meeting, to create the framework* for the conversations in the Craft Teller’s Room(s) (CTR). CTR can be used within the office to talk about questions or challenges within the team, like uncomfortable/comfortable environment, feedback about some process or brainstorming for projects. CTR can also be implemented on a larger scale, to talk to the citizens about, for example, the different tasks of the province: Health and safe environment, energy transitions, climate proof, sustainable urbanizations, sustainable competitive economy

*Guiding questions to create the framework:

1) what is our main problem or question?

2) who do we want to converse with?

3) what goal(s) do we want to have achieved after using CRT?

4) what questions or topics are necessary to discuss in order to reach our goals?

5) what setting best facilitates this specific CTR?

If facilitators/producers have well defined answers for these questions they can go into the CTR well prepared and make the most of it.

Step 2: Make as many meaningful connections as possible.

After creating the framework, making connections with potential hosts that are already working with initiatives related to your goal, is the most important.The more connections you create the more possibilities you have to open a CTR. Be aware of how you tell the story about your ambitions for the meetings, to strengthen the bond with the hosts and design strategies together to approach Tellers.

Note1- To tell the story: when you know what you want to achieve, the path becomes clear when you want to create a connection with hosts. Ensure that the narrative that you use to contact them is related both to your ambitions and the host’s ambitions, this will determine the connection and the possibility to co-create a CTR Look for shared interests, goals, and values.

Note 2- To approach Tellers: The community of the host is important, ask yourself if that is the community that you would like to talk to. If it is, design different strategies to approach more tellers. This is an important route to finding more voices for the room that you might otherwise not reach. Nevertheless, for the hosts a CTR can create awareness of his/her initiative in his/her space.

Decide among the different role players whether you want to collaborate and co-create each session, or if the facilitator is the one who does so following the guidelines created for the framework

*By the time these instructions were made, “Craft Tellers’ Rooms” was already tested and the first connections were made (Breda: The Wild Knitting Room – Maurice Spapens, Tilburg: FutureLab Lochal – Jenny Janssens and Wij West – Joy’s van Lieshout, Eindhoven: International Creative Women – Sally Ocaña). The future players can make use of this newly established network rather than start from scratch in finding suitable hosting locations.

Step 3: The meetings.

Minimum duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Once the connections are made, it is important that the collaboration between the facilitator – co/facilitator(s) and host(s) create a safe and comfortable space. Create a seat at the same table for everyone, where all the participants can see one another, and place the crafting materials (yarn, threads, needles, etc) as well as inspirational items as books or handcraft projects in the center of the table. Serve some cookies and drinks and play background music to enhance feelings of comfort for all participants by creating the feeling of a living room

The welcoming is important: the facilitator needs to give space to participants to land in the space, and needs to explain the basis of the craft. It is crucial that at least one of the roles knows the basis of some crafts. Help settle the participants in the space with introducing some craft making, then present the goal and topic(s) of the meeting and let the tellers introduce themselves.

The core of the conversation: The facilitator will ask the first triggering question and will leave space for the conversation to flow naturally. The next part consist of following the thread: give the opportunity to hear and be heard, ask questions to deepen the conversation or to keep the conversation going where needed, and keep track of the time. Time means a lot to people so by keeping an eye on the clock you respect the participants’ time, and thus themselves.

Don’t forget to close the conversation: For example, ask the tellers what the most inspiring part of the talk was. Is there anything they need to get off their chest regarding the discussion or topic? What did they get out of the conversation?

Leave some time to thank the tellers for their willingness to be open and engage Give time for casual interaction after the structured session is also valuable: allow them to walk around the space freely and have some casual talks with other tellers.

*The opening and the closing are very important to have the living room vibe that we are looking for, in order to bring a safe space to people.

STEP 4: Findings

If you follow the thread, you will have a number of CTR happening in the province. After each one you will have been introduced to different stories that can become a source of inspiration for the next steps within different projects in the province.

Consider all the stories you heard, and see how it connects to your questions in work. Use what you’ve learned to become a better public servant, by connecting the stories to your challenges, policies and projects.

Teatime for a future time

Teatime for a future time

Along with this book you have a tea bag, a needle and colorful threads. The tea represents a new opportunity to connect with a person who may be interested in the meetings in any role.The invitation is to embroider the tea bag and give it to someone to sew one of the steps for a new edition of Craft Tellers' Rooms.

Teatime for a future time Teatime for a future time

“Sometimes the greatest adventure is simply a conversation” Amadeus Wolfe

The invitation is to open new spaces and develop the conversation so that the information and the stories told do not just remain in one room, but can be analyzed and used for different processes. The ideas and knowledge that participants take away after the meetings can trigger new ideas with new connections, between tellers, teller-host, hostproducer, host-facilitator, facilitator-teller and so on - all possible combinations.

Tea time is a casual meeting with close people where a pleasant time is spent to discuss various topics. It can be used to make connections and make arrangements, but also to develop topics that will engage more stakeholders with the tellers in the Craft Tellers' Rooms.

The First Impression

The first edition of the Craft Tellers Rooms took place in Tilburg, Breda and Eindhoven in the province of North Brabant, thanks to various connections that lead us to other connections.

Weaving

*The Craft Tellers' Rooms are based on trust and sharing, the moment you start making connections you sew an imaginary thread between the different roles, it's not about expecting something from the other but about collaborating from each strength.

What people said

What hosts said

"I would like to try again and find a way to bring more people, how this woman (one of the tellers) changed from the beginning to the end, that was magic"

Joy's Van Lieshout

"I will love to host more sessions, it went really well, we can have different central topics, like emphaty for example"

Jenny Janssens

"I never had that many internationals in The Wild Knitting Room, if you want to do this every Friday you are more than welcome"

Maurice Spapens

Facilitator Experience

It is gratifying to facilitate such a sensitive and honest space where is possible to open conversations about relevant topics in this case the sense of belonging while living abroad, because the connection with people that is in the same situation appear and it is possible to go deep, that could be valuable topics or stories to take into account within the organsation for the projects which concern the target group. It is an intimate space in which everyone's vulnerability is allowed without hierarchies or prejudices. I believe that if they become constant spaces, the conversations as well as the creations can evolve and generate a positive impact on a larger scale

BrabantNext - Supervisor

Anne Sophie Ramsteijn - sramsteijn@brabant.nl

Although the issue was complex, Laura was able to make an accessible translation in order to have a dialogue about this issue. Connecting people in a playful way by crafting (true artistic form of connectivity)! The craft tellers room is a concept that reflects Laura's authenticity. I find it particularly special how this workshop has become a criteria for the conversation about 'belonging'. A poetic and philosophical thought as an answer to the question; how do you involve the unknown voice? I think this is the perfect example of an inspiration for our organization.

Province of North Brabant - Client

Nathalie Bank - nbank@brabant.nl

Laura has taken great care in developing the Craft Teller Room (CTR) concept. We asked her to create a product that would bring us closer to hearing the ‘unknown voices’ in the Province. I think CTR and the accompanying BIR answer that request

Laura was quick to bring together Brabant’s history with textiles, the importance of connection, and our need to hear stories from the Province that might otherwise go unheard I appreciate the workability of the concept that culminates these three aspects: with her guide, anyone can organise CTR’s and make meaningful connections in the process I suspect these would be connections that are not made with traditional participatory processes. Laura has taken lessons she’s learned during BrabantNEXT’s program and applied them to her concept, showing eagerness to learn and improve. For example, during a fieldtrip, we witnessed how valuable it can be to have a ‘no-interest’ conversation between different parties that might normally have specific goals when seated at a table together. Bringing together different/opposing parties without them needing to achieve specific goals, leads to conversations that bring insight and understanding to one another’s plights, and aids in finding shared goals and perspectives that can help bring policies or projects to succesful conclusions. I think Laura has managed to take that lesson and has created a workable concept that does exactly that Meanwhile, she also learned as she went: the CTR concept now is not what it started out as. After the pilot, and each iteration after that, she took what she learned and applied it to the concept in order to improve it. That kind of adaptability makes CTR a valuable asset, as it can continue to evolve with the changing needs of the province and our citizens In conclusion, I am satisfied with the concept Laura has developed and I look forward to offering this tool to my fellow public servants.