“DIY is an Instigator of Community”: Dale Dougherty Chats with Etsy

“DIY is an Instigator of Community”: Dale Dougherty Chats with Etsy

dale-dougherty

In this great little Etsy Q&A, MAKE Founder and Publisher Dale Dougherty chats about the evolution of MAKE, resourcefulness, and how making is a sign of caring for others:

That’s really the heart of what led me to focus on “amateurs” at Maker Faire and with the magazine. The root of the word amateur is “to love.” I wanted to focus on people who really love what they are doing and making. I wanted to find that place and stick with it.

Fun fact: Etsy and MAKE were both founded the same year โ€” 2005.

Etsy interviewer Karen Brown asked the MAKE crew for their favorite Etsy objects: MAKE Contributing Editor John Edgar Park chose this vintage industrial frame dining table.
Etsy interviewer Karen Brown asked the MAKE crew for their favorite Etsy objects: MAKE Contributing Editor John Edgar Park chose this vintage industrial frame dining table.

One reason I love working at MAKE is hearing Dale talk about the maker movement. His passion is evidenced to me by the fact that I never hear him use canned taglines or tired marketing speak. Interacting with and connecting the amazing makers in this world fuels him, and his enthusiasm is contagious.

A couple of my favorite quotes from this interview:

โ€ข “If there is something I could wish for America, itโ€™s that we would restore resourcefulness as a middle class virtue.ย In the old sense of DIY, there was the understanding that if we worked on our home or made our own clothes, we had a better life as a result. We had something that money couldnโ€™t buy โ€”the rewards of our efforts, satisfaction, and engagement with others. Those things are at the heart of how and why we live.”

โ€ข “I think the future for education is that kids will have more control over it, and that there will be more choices beyond what the education system provides. I think kids can come to learning from a sense of play. Then, they might want to take what they are learning seriously at some point as a job.”

Read the interview in its entirety here.

While we’re on the subject of Maker Faireโ€ฆย There are seven days left to buy tickets to Maker Faire Bay Area at Early Bird discount prices. Be smart: pick yours up today! Ticket prices go up on March 15.

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"To oppose something is to maintain it." โ€“Ursula Le Guin

Currently: NEO.LIFE Alum: Instructables and MAKE

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