Heritage in Action: Crafting collections between vernacular and institutional culture

This article is based on ethnographic fieldwork and applies theories of crafting and performance to explore how living heritage practices are rethought, reframed, and refashioned when traditional dress and individual garments are moved, reorganized, and transformed into a collection following rationales derived from both family tradition and museum standards. By following one woman’s emerging collections, the study sheds light on ways of materializing relationships and shaping curatorial agency through acts of crafting. The study aims to show how a deeper understanding of vernacular crafting of collections may inform institutional curatorial practice and heritage-making.