MANIFESTO

Ulla-Maaria Mutanen, a Ph.D. student at the University of Helsinki in Finland, has been thinking about why we enjoy making things. Creator of the HobbyPrincess blog, she developed a Crafter’s Manifesto that could just as easily be read as a call for makers to unite. We present it here as our holiday greeting to celebrate the universal urge to do-it-yourself.

People get satisfaction for being able to create/craft things because they can see themselves in the objects they make. This is not possible in purchased products.

Work inspires work. Seeing what
other people have made generates
new ideas and designs.
Essential for crafting are tools
that are accessible, portable, and
The things that people have made easy to learn.
themselves have magic powers. They
have hidden meanings that other
people can’t see.
Materials become important.
Knowledge of what they are made
of and where to get them becomes

The things people make they usually essential.
want to keep and update. Crafting is
not against consumption. It is against Recipes become important. The
throwing things away. ability to create and distribute inter-
esting recipes becomes valuable.

People seek recognition for the
things they have made. Primarily it Learning techniques brings people
comes from their friends and family. together. This creates online and
This manifests as an economy of gifts. offline communities of practice.

People who believe they are pro- Craft-oriented people seek oppor-ducing genuinely cool things seek tunities to discover interesting things broader exposure for their products. and meet their makers. This creates This creates opportunities for alter- marketplaces. native publishing channels.

At the bottom, crafting is a form
of play.