The Craft Revival

I had a very interesting meeting with Timo and Caroline last night.  Mainly it was to welcome Timo to NY and get acquainted, but as nerdy eco designers tend to do, we ended up talking about nerdy eco designer things, like no waste fashion, the H&M fiasco, and the not-so-burgeoning craft movement in America. The success of e-commerce site etsy is a testament to the success of this movement.  But where did it come from?  I have waxed poetic about the possible origins of the movement to anyone who will listen (ie. people who were unfortunately stuck in a room with me when I felt like discussing the subject).

“It’s because of the recession”, I may have said “people are returning to a time of comfort and certainty to counter the turmoil of the war and the economic decline.”

But in truth the slow and gradual switch to traditional crafts started many years before this Americana-fashion-meets-quit-your-corporate-day-job-and-make-felt-mice trend (no offense intended, I am in fact a huge fan of Karl Lagermouse).

As quoted by Caroline of Uluru in a recent blog post:

The combined skills of draping, patternmaking, cutting, and sewing or each on its own, are skills that can only be mastered with time and practice. These skills, like many other trades, are not valued like they used to be. Globalization has moved garment production out of the United States, searching for cheap labor outside our borders.

And I read this in issue 29 of Monocle this morning:

For years, teenagers have been told they need an academic qualifcation to get on. But that’s not always the case.  So many people are not cut out for pen pushing and book worming.  But if someone had put a chisel in their hand and a master had shownn them how to use it, they might have grown up into the new Michelangelo, or at least a good carpenter.  We need to go back to valuing the good old-fashioned apprenticeship.  We want to see more people making things.  And the only way to do that well is through years of slow, caring trial and error under the wings of the best craftsmen.  And once you’ve done that you will be priceless…

Perhaps the movement will be a positive result of a negative time.  Perhaps it’s time for everyone to slow down a little and figure out how to sew on a missing button instead of throwing out a perfectly good shirt.  Bring your favourite shoes to the local cobbler instead of buying a new pair.  Turn an old sweater into a new scarf. I’m not saying we all need to develop a craft, but we can apply the basic premise to our everyday lives.

And this is where my inner turmoil begins.  I believe everything I have just written (or quoted). But… I have a fashion line.  I want you to buy my clothes.  New clothes made from new (albeit sustainable) textiles.  Where, then, is the happy medium?  I’m still searching for it.  And as much as I talk about slowing down, I have less than a month to finish up my Fall 2010 collection.  Ah!  There’s the familiar fashionable hypocrisy that was missing.

Back to work!