This study investigates the pedagogy of tacit-to-explicit processes and how these pedagogies influence the workmanship of risk and certainty. Can uncertainty arise in traditional design, often shrugged as an imitative practice? If traditional design must be understood as an impulse to do a job well for its own sake, then it is essential to evaluate the kind and extent of risk that traditional designers take in making an object. In this study, the slow, incremental changes often associated with a traditional design practice were observed through an ethnographic lens in the studios of the Banarasi toy-designers, well known for making wooden play objects for over 100 years at Varanasi, India. Four learning tools were mapped on the knowledge spiral of Nonaka and Takeuchi, viz. Learning-by-Observation, Learning-by-Emulating, Learning-by-Doing, and Learning-by-Reflecting. The risks associated with each learning tool are elucidated, and a contextual evaluation framework for the assessment of products is proposed. © 2025 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.
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