Lady spinning some wool at Museum of London’s Create @ Late series, May 2008

An excellent article appeared in the Guardian this week titled Amid the economic rubble, a revolution is being knitted. No it’s not another article stating that knitting is back during the economic crisis. It goes much further than that in positioning the resurgence of craft in a fresh, subtle way. The author, Libby Brooks, argues that four factors – tactility, time, nourishment and egalitarianism – have led to the revival of craft during the recession. Worth a read if you get a chance.

Two publications relating to craft that Brooks mentions in the article are also worth reading:

• Expressive Lives, a collection of essays released by London-based think thank Demos, argues that through culture we find our place in the world; thus, cultural policy should enable citizens to take an active role in shaping their world. One chapter by Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery, pays homage to the egalitarianism of the arts and crafts movement and how that might affect cultural institutions.
• The Craftsman, by prominent sociologist/urban studies professor Richard Sennett, who, through historical, cultural and social lenses, holds that the idea of craftsman extends beyond traditional skilled manual labour. The term craftsman can be applied to the computer programmer, the doctor and the many other people who do a job well for its own sake and employ various tools, materials and skills to do so.

Today I finally checked out the website and was amazed at the number and diversity of the films – there are currently 700 films now online, with more to be added each month on lots of different topics and from as early as the 1920s.

The RailRodder (1965)

The Big Snit (1985)

Montreal by Night (1947)

Stitches in Time (1987)

Oma’s Quilt (Clip) (2007)

The animated films from the 1960s are great for illustration inspiration. If you imagined a scene as a framed picture, it would be very similar to some of the illustrations today characterized as having a crafty or DIY aesthetic.
The Great Toy Robbery

The House that Jack Built

My Financial Career (1962)

As a kid, some of these films had been an integral part of my Canadian childhood television viiewing experience. The Log Driver’s Waltz and The Sweater, anyone?

The Sweater (1980)