Vol. 04: Crafter Manifesto

The magic of making things.

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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 HobbyPringcess 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.
The things that people have made themselves have magic powers. They have hidden meanings that other people can't see.
The things people make they usually want to keep and update. Crafting is not against consumption. It is against throwing things away.
People seek recognition for the things they have made. Primarily it comes from their friends and family. This manifests as an economy of gifts.
People who believe they are producing genuinely cool things seek broader exposure for their products. This creates opportunities for alternative publishing channels.
Work inspires work. Seeing what other people have made generates new ideas and designs.
Essential for crafting are tools, which are accessible, portable, and easy to learn.
Materials become important. Knowledge of what they are made of and where to get them becomes essential.
Recipes become important. The ability to create and distribute interesting recipes becomes valuable.
Learning techniques brings people together. This creates online and offline communities of practice.
Craft-oriented people seek opportunities to discover interesting things and meet their makers. This creates marketplaces.
At the bottom, crafting is a form of play.

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Draft Craft Manifesto

The original "Crafter Manifesto" weblog post.

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The Craft Manifesto
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With all the very recent discussion of Craft 2.0 and Slow Craft.. this Manifesto seems like the perfect jumping off point for building some consensus.

What IS the driving force behind Craft 2.0? Is it fun? Magic? Eco-consciousness? More or less?
Posted by darca on December 21, 2007 at 07:25:01 Pacific Time

The Craft Manifesto
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Hi Chris from Home Crafts here.

We continue to see a rise in the popularity of Crafts for numerous reasons and I've given it plenty of thought myself, working within the Crafts industry.

15 years ago it wasnt considered "cool" for young people to be seen to take an interest in cooking and crafting - now it is much more mainstream, driven by the media with celebrity chiefs and more Crafts programs making their way onto the box.

It's now fashionable, not to buy designer cloths but to take an interest in fashion and textile crafts in order to customise your own cloths or "copy" the designer for a tenth of the cost and brag about it with your friends - not something that you'd do 10 - 15 years ago.

The rising cost of living simply means that more people are staying at home and learning to create and craft to save money - another factor that's always apparent right now.
Posted by Chris of Crafts on August 04, 2010 at 09:00:50 Pacific Time

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