A Revitalization of the Old: The Rise of Indie Craft

July 1, 2009 10:17 AM

By Gillian Kindel, Account Executive, The Halo Group

Today’s pace of life has reached a fever pitch. We thrive on speed and having a constant influx of information at our fingertips about the world, our friends and our family. But recently, there has been a backlash against this obsession with being the fastest and the most connected. Instead, people are being encouraged to slow down, be more considerate of their actions and to focus on value rather than speed.

Chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill Restaurant and Michael Pollan, the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, are examples within the culinary world of individuals who are taking new approaches to food culture and production. By encouraging people to think not only about the impact their decisions about food make on themselves but also on the world at large, they are helping people to become more aware of their consumption. Additionally, the recent economic downturn has forced people to become more discretionary in their spending habits, as they have less disposable income. According to Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimer, authors of Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design, what will survive this recession are products that people believe have true value, or are items that are perceived as being personal and authentic. People want to feel that they are not only spending their money in a smart way, but that they are also helping to support their local economy by actually putting a face to what they’re buying. Solution? Enter Indie Craft.

Our modern view of crafts is rooted in the Arts and Crafts Movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which was conceptualized around the ideas of William Morris and John Ruskin, who proposed that in pre-industrial societies, people achieved fulfillment through the creative process of handicrafts. Crafts allowed people to step outside industrial society to create something personal and meaningful that they could either use in their daily lives as decoration or as a form of gift currency amongst friends. The craft scene, both then and now, is inherently social and the proliferation of online message boards, blogs and websites has caused an explosion within the craft community. What differentiates modern crafts or “indie crafts” from those of the past is the marriage of new materials, like environmentally friendly dyes or recycled materials, to more traditional types of crafting, like knitting, needlepoint and paper cutting. This most recent boom in the craft movement utilizes traditional methods, but constructs them with modern materials. As Oliver Schwaner-Albright wrote in an article about the growth of Brooklyn’s artisan food scene, the producers “share an aesthetic that’s equal parts 19th and 21st century.” Examples of this can be seen in the Mast Brothers’ production of chocolate, which utilizes the most environmentally friendly ingredients but is manufactured using 19th-century chocolate production techniques and wrapping it all up with screen-printed paper by contemporary graphic designers; or Jenny Hart, who started Sublime Stitching in Austin, Texas, and develops needlepoint designs of pop-culture imagery that can be ironed on, instead of designing patterns that focus on specific numbers and griding of stitches.

So how does this resurgence of and shift to ‘craftiness’ affect the marketing of a business? There are some guiding principals about people who are interested in and utilize Indie Crafts that can be integrated into marketing:
•    Consumers are interested in knowing the back story for what they’re buying; if there are details that can be provided about how something was produced or tell its story, that is very valuable information.
•    Consumers want to feel like they are supporting something good. What they are buying is not just another item from a big box store; rather, they can form a personal connection to the maker. The success of Etsy, an e- commerce site comprised of hundreds of independent designers, can serve as a testament to this (“Handmade 2.0” by Rob Walker in The New York Times, December 16, 2007, gives some great background).
•    Consumers want to feel like they’re getting good value for their money; purse strings are being pulled tighter than ever, and people want to believe they’re spending wisely.

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