Over a year and a half ago, well before
the crisis, i was reading all i could about the indie movement. It was a vibrant, intellectually stimulating and challenging time.There were
dissertations on the political and social implications of the movement. There were talks and symposiums on
cultural studies. People were blogging about the cutting edge of crafts, what it meant to be indie and embracing slow crafting.They were creating well crafted, witty and aesthetically pleasing items.In plain words it was an exciting time.
What has happened?Where has the collective momentum gone?
Whereas before crafters were creating their items at the sound of their own individual drums now everyone seems to be following the market's dictum competing with it in a lose lose situation. If it's February it means hearts and red, and let's not talk about Halloween.
This situation has brought out the uglies; cut throat competition amongst crafters, knock offs, rip offs of other people's images ,undercutting fellow crafters. Need i continue to make the point clear?
Everyone seems to have turned into a self appointed marketing guru flashing directly from the oracle countless tips and tricks while looking down on those who do not posses the buzz word to the oracle.
There has also been a relevant diminution of ideas and worse, of quality in items.It seems that the same article gets produced over and over and you see the same things everywhere. Items get hashed and re-hashed until they become unbearably banal, as if mass produced, becoming the antithesis of handmade and the indie movement.The whole scene has become predictable and boring.
Crafting had a strong base on self satisfaction, on the pride of creating an original well crafted item.In other words an item with soul. (Read what
Red Thread Studio has to say on this ).It was a community strongly rooted in in sharing ,educating and supporting. Very little of that is left.
The other day as Ruth and i were talking about this she pointed out the economy as the culprit.But i believe there's more than that. Can the economy be blamed for the sloppiness of items, the aggressive behavior of some crafters? Can it be blamed for the no questioning herd like behavior?
i believe that perhaps selling venues have their share in the outcome.i believe that many venues and crafters as well have succumbed to the siren songs of growth. I also believe that a general call to order needs to be issued.Or else...
Perhaps i just fell for the idealistic part and the intellectually stimulating component without noticing the rest. But then again were it about marketing i'd be in Wall Street, or perhaps The City which is more cosmopolitan.
neki desu
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Labels: craft theory, life in general
