Sheffield, July 4th-7th, 2027
Forging and Craft
City of Steel
Sheffield is the “Steel City” - one of the hubs of the Industrial Revolution, historically associated with large-scale manufacture of steel, metalwork, and metals-related engineering. To this day, the city retains its industrial character and is home to multiple manufacturers. Vulcan, the god of fire and metalwork, has looked over the city from the town hall steeple for over a century.
In the 19th century, production processes in Sheffield evolved away from craft and towards modern large-scale industry, transforming work from artisanal activity into streamlined processes relying on largely undifferentiated labour. However, it would be wrong to say that Sheffield’s craft and artistry were erased by the rise of industry. The examples of Sheffield’s metalwork – from humble steel knives to silver tableware – that can be seen in museums around the world betray a concern not merely for utility but also for beauty. The continuing use and development of complex technologies in the city stands witness to a workforce that is skilled and creative. With this in mind, we read Sheffield as representing a link between the industrial and the artisanal – between forging and craft.
The Conversation
SCOS 2027, held in Sheffield, invites you to partake in a conversation about organising and work through the lenses of forging and craft. In the time-honoured Scossy tradition, the heart of the conversation will be about the human condition in organisations and organising as a human endeavour – the stories, the imaginaries, the reflections, the play, the links between past, present and future. The industrial steel forge is a productive metaphor. It can signify creative and powerful human agency – a place where the collective human ingenuity transforms natural materials into material goods that sustain human life. This opens the conversation to the theme of creativity, how creativity resides in communities and crosses boundaries, and creativity is understood and what impact it has. Can we think and write about organisations that are not mere profit-making instruments, but are communities where we meet to forge things that endure and sustain life (Williams and White, 2014)?
In the age of fluidity when instability of institutions, lightning speed of technological change, and the incomprehensible operations of “the algorithm” produce alienation and precarity (Bauman, 2000), forges, as large and productive physical objects, invite reflections on the material, the solid and the enduring. The problematic aspects of the steel industry – environmental pollution, industrial exploitation of workers, the closure of mills and the resulting loss of employment in communities – bring us back to the themes of precarity, damage and loss and how they can be redressed (Aguiar and Cunliffe, 2025). The dual empowering/oppressive and creative/destructive symbolism of the forge is further underscored by its association with fire – a force that violently melts down, twists, purifies, mixes and re-shapes matter. Are violence and destruction a requirement for forging new organisations? How are communities and meanings sustained under the conditions of constant precarity and change?
The key product of the forge – steel made through the purification of iron ore – is a similarly rich symbol, standing for strength that is flexible. While this invites us to consider human and organisational resilience in the context of constant change, it also forces considerations of the limits of strength and flexibility. At what point does steel bend too far? Bearing in mind that Vulcan is a god who is lame from birth, can alternatives be found in difference and vulnerability?
Finally, we cannot ignore the subject of craft showcased in the beauty of Sheffield’s metalwork. The careful attention to the aesthetics stands in contrast to the utilitarian ethos of industrial mass production. In many ways, craft stands for the industry’s “other” or the modes of production and consumptions that are small scale as opposed to mass, customised and localised as opposed to standardised and global, meaningful and aesthetic as opposed to purely functional (Ravasi et al., 2025). Craft signifies work and production that often builds upon the legacy of the past but does not necessarily exclude attention to the future. Craft work does not privilege capital accumulation. It is tied up with the identities of the craft workers, the historical communities of practice, physical spaces; it is affective and rich in meaning produced in the relation between human and non-human - people, materials, place and time (Bell and Vachhani, 2020; Cox and Minahan, 2002).
The metaphor of craft invites us to reflect on the possibility of not only creative, but also affective, intellectual, embodied and relational organising and work. Reflecting on craft today is a reflection on specifically human work in the age of AI. Through craft, we can consider an economy that is alternative to the capitalist commodity exchange. However, we must remain mindful of Mark Fisher’s warning that capitalism absorbs and coopts all around it (Fisher, 2014). In Sheffield, craft coexists with large-scale industry. How can we imagine craft work not just in opposition, but also within and beyond capitalism?
The Lines of Inquiry
SCOS 2027 welcomes critical and playful contributions engaging with the metaphors of forging, fire, steel and craft in the study and pedagogy of organising. Suggested lines of inquiry are:
Forging as creative production of things that endure
Fire as a literal and metaphorical creative, destructive, renewing and transforming force
The juxtaposition of strength and brittleness, and vulnerability and endurance
Craftwork as affective, embodied and relational work
Human work in the age of AI
Artisanal modes of production, relationship between artist and creation
Forging/crafting of workplace identities
Creative communities, collective creativity and crafting/forging of communities
Crafting/forging of power
Organisational relationship with nature and natural materials
Materiality in organisations and work
Craftwork as anti-capitalist, craftwork in the capitalist milieu, de-industrialisation
References
Aguiar, A. C., & Cunliffe, A. L. (2025). It’s the River’s call: Rethinking our relationship with nature through the embodied experience of sustainability professionals. Human Relations, 00187267251355393.
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bell, E., & Vachhani, S. J. (2020). Relational encounters and vital materiality in the practice of craft work. Organization Studies, 41(5), 681-701.
Cox, J. W., & Minahan, S. (2002). Crafting organization. Culture and Organization, 8(3), 209-224.
Fisher, M. (2014). Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Winchester: Zero Books.
Ravasi, D., Svejenova, S., Kroezen, J., Sasaki, I., & Suddaby, R. (2025). Rediscovering craft in organization studies: Perspectives and pathways. Organization Studies, 46(4), 445-469.
Williams, C. C., & White, R. J. (2014). Anarchist economic practices in a ‘capitalist’ society: Some implications for organisation and the future of work. ephemera: theory & politics in organization, 14(4), 947-71.