Ulla-Maaria Mutanen
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Ulla-Maaria Mutanen lives in Finland and is CEO of Social Objects, Ltd., founder of Thinglink ( thinglink.org), and author of the HobbyPrincess blog ( hobbyprincess.com).
Professor Kevin Henry called me one day from the Art and Design Department at
Columbia College Chicago. “Do you think we’re witnessing the rise of a new craft movement?” he asked me curiously. Henry explained that he had been interviewing crafters 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!”
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 the 19th century. At a time when industrialization and minimum-quality mass production were booming, a group of artists and designers, activist William Morris among them, issued a call for the revival of the lost spirit of crafting in design, for a return to simplicity, sincerity, good materials, and sound workmanship. Morris’ group Without making a big never evolved into a social or political organization. Rather, it was a loose community of professional deal about boycotting craftsmen who shared the same artistic ideals. Today the story’s different. First, there’s a whole big brands or saving the 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 university. She lives on a tight student budget, and consume. perhaps because of that, crafts a lot of cool stuff. She sews her own skirts and bags, builds clever Christmas Still, it’d be a mistake to shrug crafters off as presents out of recycled materials, and paints beauti- clueless. Beneath their innocent appearance, they ful greeting cards. She saves her pennies, and gets are planting the seeds of change. Without making a more delight by crafting unique creations instead of big deal about boycotting big brands or saving the buying expensive merchandise from the store. environment, crafting changes the way we consume.
My journalist friend Liisa is another example. She It exposes us to the ideals of William Morris: the just loves making cool things and realizing her ideas. preference for creativity, sincerity, good materials, and Once, she made pillows with a wonderful cat design sound workmanship over wasteful mass production. that grew so popular she had to make a whole bunch But this time the movement isn’t limited to for her buddies. Another time she crafted necklaces a group of professional craftsmen. Instead, it’s and swapped them for lunches with co-workers. She spreading much further and broader than Morris also organizes crafting get-togethers. One Saturday, could have imagined in his wildest dreams. ×
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 local self-sufficiency, he rejects imported mass-produced items and always tries to find a way to support local makers and entrepreneurs. He thinks that by setting an example for others, he can help make the world a better place. For Stefan, crafting is an alternative lifestyle.
The one thing that these three have in common is the celebration of individual creativity. And that’s the whole point. The emerging craft movement is not about outspoken leaders or violent controversy. Instead, it’s about regular people following their passions and connecting with their friends.
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