In the context of Higher Artistic Education in Design (Spain, EQF level 6), research methodologies adapted to artistic creation remain underdeveloped, particularly in pedagogical frameworks that integrate traditional crafts as epistemological tools. This project proposes a practice-led action research methodology based on the use of local craft techniques—such as gold embroidery, bobbin lace, macramé, and gold leaf gilding—as both research and learning tools in the subject Expression techniques in Design, taught in the first year of Design Studies.

The core aim is to explore how craft practices, often associated with domestic, gendered, and non-academic spaces, can become a powerful methodological lens for artistic research, while simultaneously preserving intangible heritage. By integrating craft into project-based learning strategies, the classroom becomes a laboratory for knowledge situated in materiality, memory, and embodied experience.

A distinctive feature of this proposal is the author's dual role as both educator and artist. With over two decades of experience in plastic arts and contemporary design, the author has personally developed a series of experimental artworks that combine contemporary creation with handcrafted interventions. These include real applications of gold thread embroidery, bobbin lace techniques, macramé knots, and gilding with gold leaf—each rooted in Andalusian cultural traditions and linked to domestic iconographies and gendered memories (e.g., Semana Santa mantles or household doilies).

The methodological framework includes modular didactic units supported by audiovisual microlearning, as well as field documentation through audiovisual records and semi-structured interviews with both students and craft practitioners. Preliminary results suggest that this hybrid approach fosters deeper engagement, intergenerational dialogue, and critical awareness of the cultural narratives embedded in design processes.

This contribution outlines the theoretical foundations of the method (design thinking, critical pedagogy, situated learning), its structure and documentation strategies, and presents a selection of applied exercises as evidence of pedagogical and artistic impact.

Beyond its educational dimension, this approach embodies principles of sustainability and social impact by revitalising local crafts, fostering knowledge transmission across generations, and promoting slow, ethical, and place-based creative practices. It also fosters inclusive narratives in design education by highlighting underrepresented voices and vernacular knowledge systems.

By rethinking the role of craft not only as an object of study but as a generative practice of inquiry, this proposal contributes to bridging academic research and vernacular knowledge systems, offering a replicable and scalable model for innovation in artistic education.

Keywords: Arts-based research, crafts, action-research, design education, intangible heritage.