The Movement for Fun

This column was published in CRAFT:05.

Professor Kevin Henry called me one day from Columbia College in Chicago, where he is Coordinator of the Art and Design Department’s Product Design Program. “Do you think we’re witnessing the rise of a new craft movement?” He asked me curiously. Kevin explained that he had been interviewing crafters on the East coast for a study he was conducting. “Almost none of the crafters I spoke with considered themselves part of a larger movement,” he complained. ”Most of them just craft for fun!”

Surely people who are just having fun do not a movement make? Let’s first turn around and look back at a historical precedent – the Arts and Crafts Movement at the end of the19th century. At a time when industrialization and minimum-quality mass production were booming, a group of artists and designers, William Morris among them, issued a call for the revival of the lost spirit of crafting in design: return to simplicity, to sincerity, to good materials and sound workmanship. Morris’ group never evolved into a social or political organization. Rather, it was a loose community of professional craftsmen who shared the same artistic ideals.

Today the story’s different. First, there is a whole universe of coexisting artistic styles and aesthetic ideals. Second, today’s crafters are more often hobbyists than professionals. They’re also driven by various personal motives.

Take my sister-in-law Kukka, who studies history at the university. She lives on a tight student budget, and perhaps because of that, she crafts a lot of cool stuff. She sews her own skirts and bags, builds clever Christmas presents out of recycled materials, and paints beautiful greeting cards. She saves her pennies and gets more delight by crafting unique creations instead of buying expensive merchandise from the store.   

My journalist friend Liisa is another example. She just loves making cool things and realizing her ideas. Once she made pillows with a wonderful cat design that grew so popular she had to make a whole bunch for her buddies. The other time she crafted necklaces and swapped them for lunch company. She also organizes crafting get-togethers. One Saturday she had us sew outfits for going out that night. For her, crafting is about having fun with friends.

Then there is Stefan who runs a yoga retreat. Following Mahatma Gandhi’s swadeshi philosophy of good life, he hates imported mass-produced products and always tries to find a way to support local makers and entrepreneurs. He thinks that by setting an example to others, he can help make the world a better place. For Stefan, crating is an alternative lifestyle.

The one thing that my sister-in-law, Liisa, and Stefan have in common is the celebration of individual creativity. And that’s the whole point. The emerging new craft movement is not about outspoken leaders or violent controversy. Instead, it’s about regular people following their passion and connecting with their friends.

Still, it’d be a mistake to shrug crafters off as clueless. Below the innocent appearance they are planting the seeds of change. Without making a big deal about boycotting big brands or saving the environment, crafting changes the way we consume. It exposes us to the original ideals of William Morris: the preference of creativity, sincerity, good materials and sound workmanship over wasteful mass-production. It’s just that this time the movement is not limited to a group of professional craftsmen. Instead, it’s spreading much further and broader than Morris could have imagined in his wildest dreams.

Comments

[Ravenhill]

I have just discovered your blog and if this post is any reflection of the rest of it I am going to just simply adore it! I certainly hope that thre is a creft movement afoot. It feels that way to me in any case. Personally I feel like making a huge protest against all the commercialism and mass production out there.

Now I have to read some more!

[Cakespy]

I loved this post and the reflection (and celebration) of creativity but even more so the idea of being "smart" and creative. Thank you!

[Laura Bucci]

I just found your blog through radicalcrossstitch.com. I think your manifesto is great and I also enjoyed this posting. I feel crafting is an extension of who I am. I've only been doing it for a couple of years. One thing I wanted to say is that it seems to me that a lot of hobbyists have actually turned professional -- in varying degrees of course as sites like Etsy and others can attest to. The term 'professional' should probably be used very loosely, but nonetheless once you start selling one or two things you do start entering the marketplace and realizing its potential. I don't really have a point but just to say that to me it seems that hobbyists probably often and sometimes unintentionally enter the marketplace in varying degrees. So what was fun is turning into a small business and a better lifestyle because of it.

[Meggie]

Great post! I ran across this blog through craftresearch.blogspot.com. I'm definitely quite excited by the prospect of a new Arts and Crafts movement and it's nice to see people connecting things back to William Morris.

[Spinsterina]

I wish I believed that today's trendy crafters were actually concerned with "good materials and sound workmanship" but I don't see much evidence of that. I see a lot of cheap looking crap, glued together and decorated with skulls. I'm hoping that like the fun-fur craze that so many knitters were drawn to, this will pass and they'll eventually demand more of themselves, having discovered that creating something is a thrill. Creating something both beautiful and useful is deeply satisfying.

[Scott Constable]

I have just discovered your blog and find many points of convergence with my own work and research, which you can visit at http://www.deepcraft.org and http://www.thewowhaus.com

Interestingly, I knew Kevin Henry as a student at SAIC in the early eighties when he was making wooden mechanical devices. This inspires me to get back in touch with him- thanks for making the connection!

[Ulla-Maaria]

Thank You, Scott, and good luck with Deep! Way to go.