The Aura of the Analogue in a Digital Age: Women’s Crafts, Creative Markets and Home-Based Labour After Etsy

Susan Luckman

doi:10.5130/csr.v19i1.2585

Abstract

This article examines the renewed popularity of the handmade by examining the current renaissance in the street credibility of previously disparaged women's craft practices, particularly those employing yarn (for example knitting, crochet, needlepoint and weaving) and fabric (sewing, felting). The author historically locates current debates around craft production and creative work by drawing upon the British Arts and Crafts movement, with its own longstanding association with women's' labour in the home and desire to realise sustainable ethical labour practices. Notably, both the periods under discussion mark profound shifts in the economic organisation of society – then, the Industrial Revolution; now the de-industrialisation of much of the 'industrialised' world and the rise of the (digitised) knowledge economy – and see a concurrent increase in the popularity of the handmade original as a desirable aesthetic object.

Highlights

At a time when the success of the Etsy website and the Cath Kidston label marks out a space where women’s home-‐based crafts practice is elevated from the local market to the high street, this article examines the renewed popularity of the handmade and of craft production and its relation to economies of amateur labour.[1]
The article situates the popularity of the handmade original as a desirable aesthetic object and part of a broader return of credibility to previously disparaged women’s craft practices
The participants work in teams, broken up into various roles based on industry practice: producer, marketing manager, game designer, level designer, art director, 3d/2d artist, animator, technical director, AI/physics programmer, sound engineer, writer and so forth

Summary

Introduction

At a time when the success of the Etsy website and the Cath Kidston label (among others) marks out a space where women’s home-‐based crafts practice is elevated from the local market to the high street, this article examines the renewed popularity of the handmade and of craft production and its relation to economies of amateur labour.[1].

Results

Conclusion