By Lorina of

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of attending a Q & A session featuring the authors of Handmade Nation and the indie documentary film of the same name.

Andrew, the Editor in Chief of American Craft Magazine was on hand as moderator of the event. He likens the Indie craft movement to the Punk rock era of the 70’s and 80’s in which self expression was rebellious in nature, much the way today’s crafters are anti-“big box”.

Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl travelled through the US to interview crafters from every corner of our country. Both being indie crafters themselves, became very interested in learning how various communities of crafters evolve and thrive.

The two met while they were vending together at markets and eventually decided to put up a video on youtube to promote their journey documenting indie craftspersons of America.

Particularly interesting was when Faythe mentioned that there was a tremendous interest from people outside the community who didn’t know what they were doing, and had to explain what crafters actually do. They also found that men became increasingly aware and interested in joining this female dominated arena.

Cortney and Faythe believe that the web is an integral part of the future of crafting in the form of online communities, forums, sharing of info and getting one’s name into the public eye. Crafting fills a need to get people together in person, which is often challenged by contemporary life. Crafters often feed off each other in complementary ways. There is definitely a social aspect to crafting.

Handmade Nation the film has sold out for its showing at the Museum of Art & Design for Thursday night’s premiere; however, there will be additional screenings the weekend of Feb. 14 and 15. Visit https://streamingmoviesright.com/us/movie/handmade-nation for more information.

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