Fredrik Leijonhufvud
About Fredrik Leijonhufvud
I am a PhD student in crafts and have a background as a boatbuilder, shipwright and teacher in boat building.
The absence of living tradition bearers means that the craft tradition is broken, but traces of it can be deciphered from the few remaining boats. Both theoretical insights and practical experience are crucial in the survey in order to interpret craft objects from the past. In my current PhD project I will investigate how documentation of objects, with a craft person´s perspective, can be used in the reconstruction of craft processes. Previous research has initiated the analysis of what knowledge is possible to read from older objects, but there is a need for detailed, critical analyzes of the relationship between documentation, reconstruction, tradition, interpretation and prejudice.
A case study is carried out with a focus on documentation and reconstruction within the craft of boatbuilding. The case study is on boats from the Stockholm Archipelago built with carved planking, a local variation of the Nordic clinker boat tradition.
In today's cultural heritage approach, the mobile and intangible cultural heritage is highlighted and this can contribute to increasing interest in boats and boatbuilding as a cultural heritage. In December 2021, the Nordic clinker boat traditions were added to UNESCO's representative list of humanity's intangible cultural heritage.