Here in the UK, crafting is still considered a bit of a minority pursuit by many. The 'granny' image still refuses to check in to the great old folks' home of hobbies, and despite the efforts of many groups like Stitch 'n' Bitch London and iKnit London, crafters outside the capital are too often in a minority.
To find out what's being done about this, I spoke to Sally Fort, life-long craft goddess and founder member of the recently created Manchester Craft Mafia about how one group of crafters in the North of England got together to form a hip and happening network of creative professionals; a must-read if you're thinking of setting up a group of your own. Follow the jump for the interview.
1. The idea of 'craft mafia's seems to be huge in the States, but to what extent is it taking off in the UK?
It’s early days, there are only 3 Craft Mafias in Britain (based in Glasgow, Leeds and now Manchester) but the activities and opportunities offered through them are there in other towns and cities too, just not packaged up into a craft mafia. Momentum is building – there’s definitely a wide scale young contemporary craft scene creeping up. The demand for more craft mafias across Britain certainly exists – I’m regularly asked if people outside our area can join, and get messages from makers all over the country saying they wish they lived closer. I’d say the scope to get a few more up and running is enormous.
Anyone wanting to start their own Craft Mafia should visit www.craftmafia.com to find out more.
2. How does it help your businesses to be part of a group?
There are a number of ways and it works slightly differently for each craft mafia as we all run our group in a different way with a variety of ideas and activities. For Manchester we have 2 key aims:
o to increase business opportunities for makers
o to widen the audiences / market for craft
3. How do you feel the craft scene is doing in the UK at the moment?
There’s a hugely optimistic air with a new wave of crafters coming through; some excellent business development training and schemes available; an increased media interest and awareness; and some great entrepreneurs setting up their own businesses and collaborative projects. The Craft Mafia is one model but there are other people doing similar things, like the Hip Hip Handmade project in Northampton. It’s this rise of ‘DIY crafts’ as it’s become known which really inspires me right now.
For instance there are currently 410 UK makers who have set up their own Etsy online store and blog – this is a great resource for makers who want to sell their work with minimal set-up costs, and for anyone really keen to buy handmade. You can easily find the UK makers by typing UK into the search, or finding someone near you by typing a place name or clicking on the UK map in the Geolocator feature.
What’s desperately lacking however is a secure, strategic infrastructure for the widescale development of crafting audiences and craft awareness. The funding situation for craft is also in a bad way. Though grants are always available in theory from the likes of the Arts Council of England (ACE) and its regional offices across the country, it has been hit hard by the government taking funding away from there to put towards the Olympics.
4. What trends have you picked up on in crafting recently?
There’s a huge love for anything of the contemporary / popular Japanese style right now. There’s also still an enduring fondness for vintage styles, not just the 60s style wallpaper type patterns but an increased understanding of other eras – 1940s styles seem to be coming through in crafts as they do fashion right now.
Also coming up, which I’d love to see a lot more of is ‘geek’ crafts or as I call it technocrafting. It’s where electronics provide the inspiration for crafting. Some makers use for example 1980s and early 90s components from computer games, stereos etc; others are using pixels as a basis for their work (not least as a means of transforming pretty much any visual into a cross stitch pattern!); while yet more incorporate electronics into their work so that the piece has a pulse of some kind – be it light, sound, or some other wired magic.
There always seems to be an animal motif doing the rounds, a new one each season – former examples have been owls, stags, octopus. Currently monkeys appear to be the creature to go for and rumour has it that pandas will be everywhere soon because of the Beijing Olympics.
There’s also a great wave of plushies on the go. I love these quirky little creatures and have a good little stash of them in my baby boy’s room. Soft toys with a twist are becoming more and more popular which is being picked up by the mainstream which on the one hand is a positive sign of the impact crafts is having right now, but on the other I’d always prefer someone to buy a one-off handmade item crafted with love rather than a chainstore product. But if it introduces craft to some more people you can’t knock it.
And of course many makers are upping their game in terms of using environmentally aware materials and techniques. For some this is a conscious ethical choice, for others it happens by default by re-using and repurposing old materials – like the techno crafting above, reusing circuit boards, cassette parts and so on, or vintage clothes and fabric.
5. What would you like to see more of in the craft world?
I’d love to see crafts as well respected as fine art – though that’s a wish for outside the craft world. Those of us within it of course already give it the respect it deserves. It is making progress but there’s still a long way to go. And I’d really like to see more strategic and financial support for new makers. I’d also like to see more of a gender balance – it seems to be dominated by women which is great compared to most other areas of life! But more male crafters would shake up the status quo further which would be no bad thing.
I’d also like to see craft back in the national curriculum in schools. There’s room for it to cross over not just with art, but with business too. I think its vital that future generations have the opportunity to explore their creativity 3D and learn how to harness it as a career option.
Manchester Craft Mafia currently incorporates the following crafty businesses:
o Tinkering Textiles, which sells all manner of textile products, featuring an enviable stash of Japanese, vintage and geometric fabrics and findings.
o Ophelia Button who create stunning jewellery from gorgeously co-ordinated vintage buttons, fabrics and buckles.
o Guerrilla Embroidery, another textiler making exquisite brooches and purses featuring impressively detailed fluorescent embroidered motifs and patterns.
