The Meaning of Stuff (and Vice Versa)
Arts and Crafts, Makers and Hackers, and the Search for Something
“Choosing to make something is political.” -Virginia Johnson, Gather Here
When I set out to write this article, I had intended it as a followup to a previous article about the Arts and Crafts movement and its foundational philosophy that persisted long past the movement itself. The idea? To link the contemporary maker and do-it-yourself (DIY) movements to this legacy. However, after interviewing folks with roles directing or owning spaces dedicated to making things of all kinds, my original premise became far more nuanced and interesting than I had originally presumed.
Today’s makers are an eclectic mix, from those seeking to experience the personal satisfaction of crafting something with her hands, to understanding devices and systems and hacking them (either for fun or to learn, or to innovate and invent something new entirely), or to connect with people or traditions to which they they hope to connect or keep alive. Where the original Arts and Crafts movement sought societal change by rejecting mass-produced and often factory-made goods, today’s maker movement has all of the hallmarks of true human-centeredness, benefiting the maker of the object as much as it benefits the consumer (if that’s a different person at all).
I live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a little neighborhood called Inman Square, about halfway between two of the world’s most famous universities, MIT and Harvard. It’s no coincidence that my neighborhood, and the surrounding neighborhoods, are hotbeds of innovation. Inman especially, in addition to the handful of fun bars, restaurants, and startups occupying store fronts once reserved for retail, has the honor of being host to the couple of businesses known in contemporary America as makerspaces.
Gather Here occupies an especially lovely and big space on Cambridge Street. In addition to offering an eclectic and tasteful selection of fabrics and notions, they host frequent workshops that are almost always filled to capacity (I should know, I’ve never been able to sign up for one in time). I asked Virginia Johnson how she felt contemporary spaces like hers either resembled or departed from the Arts and Crafts movement:
“Many of the people who enroll in our workshops talk about wanting to create something tangible or connect with a family history of making,” Virginia said. “We hear stories from people who work in industries where they don’t actually see the results of what they are researching or developing for many years so the act of sitting down, cutting fabric, stitching it together, and leaving at the end of a 3 hour workshop with a handcrafted bag is not only exciting but fulfilling.”
Almost next door to Gather Here is the Albertine Press, a letterpress studio that has a kickass retail selection of stationery made largely on site and hosts a vintage press and work tables for an impressively diverse set of workshops: modern calligraphy, brush lettering, and other print and graphic arts. When asked the same question about the Arts and Crafts movement, owner Shelley Barandes had this to say:
“The very nature of our letterpress business and production is rooted in centuries-old craftsmanship and technology,” Shelley said. “We still crank presses by hand, one piece of paper at a time, to create wedding invitations, greeting cards and other paper goods. We’re the antithesis of the digital revolution–the work is slow and tactile and intentional.”
Urban areas like the one where I live are hardly the only places to host spaces that encourage creativity, craft, or innovation. About two hours north of Spofford, New Hampshire (the place after which Spofford Design is named) in Burlington, Vermont, lives the Generator Makerspace. Although notable to many as the home of politician Bernie Sanders, Burlington is closer to Montreal, Canada than either New York City or Boston, and boasts a population of 42,000, about a third the size of Cambridge. Nonetheless, Generator is home to a thriving community of makers and startups. Speaking on behalf of Generator, Communications Coordinator Annika Rundberg noted:
“Machines like the laser cutter have been around for industrial purposes for a while, but only in recent years, the cost has come down so that it is more accessible to the general public,” Annika said. “This, in turn, has given more opportunity for people to experiment and play with new ideas leading to new innovation.”
In all three cases, what remains consistent with the Arts and Crafts movement and the movements to follow is that they spoke to an itch that mass production, and in our time an economy driven by corporations, can’t entirely scratch. The makers who elevate “voiding warranties” by deconstructing electronic objects or eschew “fast fashion” by making an article of clothing themselves demystify those objects and learn how they work. In such cases we open up the black box of production. We value the people and expertise behind them and therefore the value of the objects themselves.
None of those I talked to shied away from the social and even political implications of this activity. “We’re a print shop and you’d have to be living under a rock not to realize the power and importance of the press in all of its forms, and how transformative it can be in spreading messages,” Shelly said. “For us that means posters and prints that support causes important to us[….]Helping foster communication in all of its forms feels particularly important in our modern era. Bringing it about with beauty and care is what elevates the society.”
Virginia echoed this sentiment, noting a change in mindset and a subsequent change in values that results from making. “You risk creating something imperfect which is a really difficult thing for people to come to terms with,” Virginia said. “Once we finish school there’s this false idea that we should just be good at stuff. We’ve forgotten what it was like to learn something for the first time and get impatient with our personal process. Learning a craft can be humbling and we begin to challenge a lot of ideas about what skills we value.”
So will the makers of today achieve what Arts and Crafts set out to do but failed to achieve, and actually change the world?
“Maker spaces encourages human interaction and dialogue,” Virginia said. “Connecting with one another, learning from one another, championing one another–it’s part of building communities that care. And I believe that giving a damn will be what changes the world.”
Do you have a favorite makerspace that you visit, or even a craft that you enjoy? What ethic do you feel that the surge in makerspaces embodies? Reach out to me at adam.h@spofforddesign.com to keep the conversation going.
