Assignment: Write an open feature. Your choice: Home, fashion, food, consumer, health, science, how-to, entertainment. Think of a content area within the world of features that you particularly like to read.
The handmade revolution: is it just the recession?
By Natalie Kirkpatrick
Kimberly Dorn makes plush headbands. Erin Protheroe designs tutus for little girls, like her daughter. The Crafty Bastards Fair, one of many events featuring only handmade items like Dorn’s and Portheroe’s, is hosted at the Marie Reed Learning Center in Adams Morgan, and is seven years running this October. The event features 150 vendors with handmade items to sell and over 25,000 people in attendance.
The whole idea began with the Washington City Paper, which was thinking of doing a yard sale to promote its classifieds section.
“This was about the same time that the Renegade Craft Fair had just started up,” said Kimberly Dorn, one of two festival directors of the Crafty Bastards Fair. The Renegade Craft Fair is featured in cities across the United States including Brooklyn, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Dorn said, “This whole crafting thing just seems really cool so we decided to start a craft fair.”
The fair got her into knitting, she said, and she also is the director of Hello Craft, a nonprofit that works for the “advancement of independent crafters and the handmade movement,” and supporting small business owners while introducing people to “the benefits of buying handmade” according to their Web site.
The Sugarloaf Craft Festival, like the Renegade Craft Fair, is a local option for buying handmade items. In the D.C. metro area Sugarloaf hosts events in Chantilly, Va., and Gaithersburg, Md., where “more than 250 of the nation’s most accomplished craftspeople, as well as renowned artisans” can feature their works according to their Web site.
Dorn said that by buying handmade you’re supporting the local economy.
“Usually people who make handmade goods are going to buy handmade goods so that money is circulated in the community,” Dorn said.
She noted the District specifically as a trouble spot for independent business owners.
“It’s really hard for independent, creative stores to exist in D.C. because it’s so expensive,” Dorn said. “This is one day where people can go and buy tons of cool stuff that comes from independent crafters and artists.”
So what’s the difference?
“There’s a lot more care that goes into it for the most part. It’s more unique because it’s not mass produced,” said Erin Protheroe, who has her own business, SweetSassy. “You can change things if you want to.”
“You’re buying a story about a piece. At Target you’re just buying a piece,” Dorn said.
“People are buying for the uniqueness and the fact that it’s not some mass produced thing,” Protheroe said.
Some have claimed that the handmade revolution is recession-based. In an article by Clive Thompson featured in Wired Magazine, Thompson he wrote that with the “Web-fueled boom in DIY culture, there are more one-of-a-kind products being made.”
“What we’ve seen if you look at the stats from Etsy, even though this is a recession, their profits seem to be through the roofs,” Dorn said. Etsy is an e-commerce site that allows users to buy and sell their handmade goods. Etsy, created in 2005, by Rob Kalin, describes itself as an alternative to mass-produced products.
And Dorn hit the nail on the head with the Esty statistics. According to their web site, in 2009 the site sold $180.6 million in gross merchandise sales. Through January of 2010 the site had already sold $20.1 million in gross merchandise sales. If the site continues at that rate they will have added $60.6 million to their gross merchandise sales since last year.
“With people losing their full time jobs, people look to crafting to make some extra cash flow because there are so many outlets where you can sell your goods,” Dorn said mentioning ArtFire along with Etsy as outlets for selling handmade goods.
Through February of 2010 the unemployment rate held at 9.7% according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Specifically, all 22 counties in the D.C. metropolitan area “had unemployment rates that were higher in December 2009 than a year earlier” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It could also be that selling your handmade products online is now becoming popular, according to Protheroe.
“The stuff like Etsy has been around for a long time,” Protheroe said. “More people are noticing it now.” Protheroe thinks that since people are learning how to fix things and remodel their homes themselves, they’ll continue to do it, but maybe for different reasons.
When asked whether or not the handmade movement will ever slip away Dorn said that they had their doubts about stability at Crafty Bastards. “I think about maybe three years ago when we were doing Crafty Bastards, we thought that it was at its height, […] that it was going to go down from there, but surprisingly it just hasn’t,” Dorn said.
Dorn said that could be due to the increasing number of craft fairs like the Sugraloaf Craft Festival, the Renegade Craft Fair and Crafty Bastards.
“The more outlets it just creates this creative vibe and people want to be a part of it, and you get people into the community that way,” Dorn said.
Many of these outlets, aside from the craft fairs, operate online. Hello Craft, Dorn’s other endeavor, “shares information concerning small business how-to’s and general knowledge of the handmade movement through a variety of media.”
Dorn said that blogging is a way to keep connected to customers. “When you blog, you’re creating personalities and you’re showing off your individual personality,” Dorn said. “If you can show off who you are, people are more enticed to buy form you because they feel like they know you.”
The “strict jury,” as Dorn describes it, finds vendors who they know are going to make money and be successful “because they have quality goods and unique goods.”
“There’s always new things being made and being sold and bought, and it just inspires people to make and buy handmade. I think its creating more of a community for itself all the time,” Dorn said.
Dorn’s hoping that handmade goods will move into the male sphere as well.
“The hand made community, it is full of women,” Dorn said. “The community can use a lot of stuff for dudes.”
Dorn said that a lot of men go into business with their partners, wives and girlfriends. She said that a lot of men are graphic designers who realized that they can turn what they do for work into art and sell it. “We haven’t really seen a lot of that but it could be the next thing that’s coming up,” Dorn said.
By Natalie Kirkpatrick
Kimberly Dorn makes plush headbands. Erin Protheroe designs tutus for little girls, like her daughter. The Crafty Bastards Fair, one of many events featuring only handmade items like Dorn’s and Portheroe’s, is hosted at the Marie Reed Learning Center in Adams Morgan, and is seven years running this October. The event features 150 vendors with handmade items to sell and over 25,000 people in attendance.
The whole idea began with the Washington City Paper, which was thinking of doing a yard sale to promote its classifieds section.
“This was about the same time that the Renegade Craft Fair had just started up,” said Kimberly Dorn, one of two festival directors of the Crafty Bastards Fair. The Renegade Craft Fair is featured in cities across the United States including Brooklyn, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Dorn said, “This whole crafting thing just seems really cool so we decided to start a craft fair.”
The fair got her into knitting, she said, and she also is the director of Hello Craft, a nonprofit that works for the “advancement of independent crafters and the handmade movement,” and supporting small business owners while introducing people to “the benefits of buying handmade” according to their Web site.
The Sugarloaf Craft Festival, like the Renegade Craft Fair, is a local option for buying handmade items. In the D.C. metro area Sugarloaf hosts events in Chantilly, Va., and Gaithersburg, Md., where “more than 250 of the nation’s most accomplished craftspeople, as well as renowned artisans” can feature their works according to their Web site.
Dorn said that by buying handmade you’re supporting the local economy.
“Usually people who make handmade goods are going to buy handmade goods so that money is circulated in the community,” Dorn said.
She noted the District specifically as a trouble spot for independent business owners.
“It’s really hard for independent, creative stores to exist in D.C. because it’s so expensive,” Dorn said. “This is one day where people can go and buy tons of cool stuff that comes from independent crafters and artists.”
So what’s the difference?
“There’s a lot more care that goes into it for the most part. It’s more unique because it’s not mass produced,” said Erin Protheroe, who has her own business, SweetSassy. “You can change things if you want to.”
“You’re buying a story about a piece. At Target you’re just buying a piece,” Dorn said.
“People are buying for the uniqueness and the fact that it’s not some mass produced thing,” Protheroe said.
Some have claimed that the handmade revolution is recession-based. In an article by Clive Thompson featured in Wired Magazine, Thompson he wrote that with the “Web-fueled boom in DIY culture, there are more one-of-a-kind products being made.”
“What we’ve seen if you look at the stats from Etsy, even though this is a recession, their profits seem to be through the roofs,” Dorn said. Etsy is an e-commerce site that allows users to buy and sell their handmade goods. Etsy, created in 2005, by Rob Kalin, describes itself as an alternative to mass-produced products.
And Dorn hit the nail on the head with the Esty statistics. According to their web site, in 2009 the site sold $180.6 million in gross merchandise sales. Through January of 2010 the site had already sold $20.1 million in gross merchandise sales. If the site continues at that rate they will have added $60.6 million to their gross merchandise sales since last year.
“With people losing their full time jobs, people look to crafting to make some extra cash flow because there are so many outlets where you can sell your goods,” Dorn said mentioning ArtFire along with Etsy as outlets for selling handmade goods.
Through February of 2010 the unemployment rate held at 9.7% according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Specifically, all 22 counties in the D.C. metropolitan area “had unemployment rates that were higher in December 2009 than a year earlier” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It could also be that selling your handmade products online is now becoming popular, according to Protheroe.
“The stuff like Etsy has been around for a long time,” Protheroe said. “More people are noticing it now.” Protheroe thinks that since people are learning how to fix things and remodel their homes themselves, they’ll continue to do it, but maybe for different reasons.
When asked whether or not the handmade movement will ever slip away Dorn said that they had their doubts about stability at Crafty Bastards. “I think about maybe three years ago when we were doing Crafty Bastards, we thought that it was at its height, […] that it was going to go down from there, but surprisingly it just hasn’t,” Dorn said.
Dorn said that could be due to the increasing number of craft fairs like the Sugraloaf Craft Festival, the Renegade Craft Fair and Crafty Bastards.
“The more outlets it just creates this creative vibe and people want to be a part of it, and you get people into the community that way,” Dorn said.
Many of these outlets, aside from the craft fairs, operate online. Hello Craft, Dorn’s other endeavor, “shares information concerning small business how-to’s and general knowledge of the handmade movement through a variety of media.”
Dorn said that blogging is a way to keep connected to customers. “When you blog, you’re creating personalities and you’re showing off your individual personality,” Dorn said. “If you can show off who you are, people are more enticed to buy form you because they feel like they know you.”
The “strict jury,” as Dorn describes it, finds vendors who they know are going to make money and be successful “because they have quality goods and unique goods.”
“There’s always new things being made and being sold and bought, and it just inspires people to make and buy handmade. I think its creating more of a community for itself all the time,” Dorn said.
Dorn’s hoping that handmade goods will move into the male sphere as well.
“The hand made community, it is full of women,” Dorn said. “The community can use a lot of stuff for dudes.”
Dorn said that a lot of men go into business with their partners, wives and girlfriends. She said that a lot of men are graphic designers who realized that they can turn what they do for work into art and sell it. “We haven’t really seen a lot of that but it could be the next thing that’s coming up,” Dorn said.
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1 comment:
Interesting article . . . I guess especially so for me now that I'm jumping into the DIY world for gifts and cards and stuff, and also trying to make some money off of it through etsy!!! Good job.
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