Mētis and Somaesthetics in Polish Craft Practice: The NÓW Initiative

Abstract

This study examines, through a phenomenological interview, the ceramic practice of Olga Milczyńska, a member of NÓW—a Polish initiative dedicated to revitalizing traditional artisanal techniques through contemporary methods. NÓW’s manifesto foregrounds embodied making processes that integrate sensory experience with cultural heritage, and Milczyńska’s practice exemplifies this orientation through attentiveness to material behaviour and manual engagement.
We argue that her ceramic practice offers a productive site for expanding somaesthetic theory by demonstrating how embodied making generates a situated, corporeal mode of knowledge. This form of bodily intelligence aligns with the notion of mētis (Klekot 2018), challenging the dominant framing of craft as primarily technical and rule-governed (technē). Accordingly, the interview investigates how reflective and unreflective bodily know-how are negotiated during the making process, how mētis is transmitted through practice and how aesthetic and somatic responses guide interaction with the material.
The analysis reveals a critical gap in how craftspeople articulate their own work: Milczyńska foregrounds technical efficacy in her self-narration while leaving unexpressed the somaesthetic dimension that substantively informs her practice. By tracing the dynamics of her working process, the study forges an explicit conceptual link between mētis and somaesthetic theory, offering a contribution to both somaesthetic discourse and contemporary craft studies.