This article aims to discuss how it is formed the so called "design artcraft", which comes to life with the convergence of technical practices of designers and the "traditional knowledge" of artisans. This knowledge is said to be passed from generation to generation. Taking into account my fieldwork experience with artisans in Brasília, I try and unveil how emerges the notion that artcraft production should follow formal and aesthetical requirements in order to please the consumers and thus succeed in the market. Some "myths" regarding the artcraft work are put at stake on the paper, which shows how symbolic disputes among artisans, designers and institutions emerge in the field. I chose to approach artcrafts in Brasília as a field, in accordance to the concept of Pierre Bourdieu. By so doing, I was able to identify the most relevant social actors and the roles they play in this specific case. This concept also allows me to reveal the power struggles that institute practices and form this field. I try to link Bourdieu's approach to the symbolic interactionism of Georg Simmel and Erving Goffman. Although these authors have their particularities, both share the common notion of a social constructed reality through the experience of the actors within a specific context. In addition to these references, I also incorporated in my analysis a perspective of Geertz, who emphasizes the importance of the context and interpretation for the symbolic anthropology.
artcrafts; burocracy; representation; traditional knowledge