Part 1: Interview with Brittney
Question 1: Why Kraftwerks?

Question 2: The need to make.
Question 3: Get ‘em hooked when they’re young.
Question 4: Craft Evolution – A Gazillion Stitches
Question 5: Crafty ideas
Question 6: What is a Kraftwerks?
Question 7: Crafting group therapy?
Question 8: Origin of Kraftwerks
Question 9: Stitch’n Bitch Reconnaissance
Question 10: Productivity
Question 11: Mostly Blogs… and Grandma
Question 12: Efficiency and Control

Part 2: Interview with Tanya
Question 1: We’re getting a big quilt! YAY!

Question 2: I see inspiration all around me/I feel like a witch.

Question 3: Productive Socialization

Question 4: Shelling Pistachios

Question 5: Power of Kraftwerks

Question 6: Art vs Craft

Part 3: Craft and Art
The Stakes

Swimming in a fricken delta

That’s how you get new stitches

Gateway Craft

Analysis
Brittney and Tanya revealed similar backgrounds in crafting – both were raised in environments where family members (specifically grandparents) had a role in teaching them various crafting techniques. Learning and practicing crafts at an early age instilled a proclivity for DIY activities later in life. They also shared an interest in carrying on their family’s crafting traditions while also experimenting with new techniques as well as applying craft techniques to found objects.

Kraftwerks is quite different from Stitch’n Bitch groups. First, Stitch’n Bitch is far more inclusive; meetings are usually held in public spaces (yarn shop, cafes) and meetings are announced on websites like MeetUp.com and Stitchnbitch.org. Although the members of Kraftwerks are looking to grow their group, their members are friends and acquaintances and specifically crafters that would be comfortable around lewd discussions. Secondly, members of Stitch’n Bitch groups usually knit, crochet or sew whereas Kraftwerks welcomes crafting of all kinds.

After trying to steer the conversation towards the relationship between craft and politics, I gathered that Kraftwerks is an apolitical group. Members are interested in politics and activism, but the group itself is more about the act of crafting and creative production. The groups serves as a place where both Brittney and Tanya can engage in creative activity and fulfill their needs to create/make – a need that they cannot fulfill within their occupations.

Reflection
These interviews are the beginning in a series of interviews with crafting groups. My process was very informal, and next time I would prepare some specific questions. Earlier this semester I conducted an interview with planned questions, so I wanted to see what would happen if I went into the interviews with a basic plan but without a predetermined series of questions. I like the energy of the interviews and creating a dynamic where the subjects felt free to express their thoughts and ideas. I think blending this method with some specific questions would be more successful and it would make comparing data between groups a lot easier.

Conclusion
My research confirms what we already know about craft: it is a practice that is passed down from generation to generation, it is a practice which allows for creative freedom, it has a therapeutic quality, it is often a communal activity and it is more often practiced by females than males. I would love to find more groups like Kraftwerks and see how similar groups differ from established groups like Stitch’n Bitch and groups associated with institutions (e.g. schools, churches). These interviews serve as an example of how crafting with friends, especially in a private setting that allows for unedited conversations creates stronger relationships between friends – groups like Kraftwerks are the antithesis of our current social media culture.

The questions on the survey were as follows:

1. What craft medium do you prefer to work with?
Knitting
Sewing
Embroidery
Zine
Paper
Collage
Ceramics
Woodworking
Metalcrafts
Other (please specify)

2. Which of the following best describes how you identify yourself?
Female
Male
Transgender
Not sure
Other

3. Which category below includes your age?
17 or younger
18-20
21-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
60-69
70 or older

4. How often do you craft?
Daily.
Several times a week.
Once a week.
Several times a month.
Once a month.
Rarely.

5. Are you involved in a local artist or craft community?
Yes
No

6. Are you involved in an online artist or craft community?
Yes
No

7. How often do you visit craft related websites?
Several times a day.
Once a day.
Several times a week.
Once a week.
Several times a month.
Once a month.
Rarely.
Never.

8. What craft related websites do you visit?
MAKE
CRAFT
Knitty
Ravelry
Craftster
Instructables
Threadbanger
I do not visit any craft related websites.
Other (please specify)

9. What social networking tools/websites do you use in connection with your interest in craft?
Twitter
Facebook
Tumblr
Pinterest
Etsy
I do not use any social networking tools or websites in connection with my interest in craft.
Other (please specify)

10. What best describes your motivation for crafting?
To make items for myself.
As a Hobby/Pastime.
To make gifts for my friends and family.
To sell items/business.
To make items for charity.
For activism.
Other. (please specify)

Then, on a whim I started mapping Occupy protests. Occupy encampments are full of examples of DIY and craft. Occupy has attempted to create DIY democracy and DIY villages. They have formed their own media: the people’s library, the Occupied Wall Street Journal, tv channels in the form of livestreaming. Each Occupy chapter has created their own website with a calendar of events, press statements, General Assembly notes. Occupy camps constantly solve problems through innovation. The people’s mic was a response to the prohibited use of megaphones or amplification. During large GA meetings, hand signals helped to reach consensus and bring up issues. There have been knit-ins, screen printing, sign making, costume creation. Occupy Melbourne created costumes out of their tents in order to evade eviction in a playful way. Occupy Cal created floating tents in defiance of being evicted and ordered not to reestablish the camp.

Further research and it is easy to see parallels between DIY/craft at the Occupy protests and the Greenham Women’s Peace Camp. Until I started researching craftivism, I have to admit that I had not heard of the Greenham Women’s Peace Camp. I encourage readers to check out the beautiful archive of the protest at www.yourgreenham.co.uk. Here’s an overview via www.greenhamwpc.org.uk/:

On the 5th September 1981, the Welsh group “Women for Life on Earth” arrived on Greenham Common, Berkshire, England. They marched from Cardiff with the intention of challenging, by debate, the decision to site 96 Cruise nuclear missiles there…

…they took the authorities by surprise and set the tone for a most audacious and lengthy protest that lasted 19 years. Within 6 months the camp became known as the Women’s Peace Camp and gained recognition both nationally and internationally by drawing attention to the base with well publicised imaginative gatherings.This unique initiative threw a spotlight on ‘Cruise’ making it a national and international political issue throughout the 80s and early 90s…

…Living conditions were primitive. Living outside in all kinds of weather especially in the winter and rainy seasons was testing. Without electricity, telephone, running water etc, frequent evictions and vigilante attacks, life was difficult. In spite of the conditions women, from many parts of the UK and abroad, came to spend time at the camp to be part of the resistance to nuclear weapons. It was a case of giving up comfort for commitment.

DIY and craft were a daily part of the Greenham protest. Here is a bit from Anna Feigenbaum’s paper, ‘Tactics and technology: Cultural resistance at the Greenham Women’s Peace Camp’:

A number of women at Greenham literally learned how to weave, knit and spin wool, often taught by the older women at the camp. Making good quality wool socks and sweaters was both a practical way to produce affordable clothes for living outdoors and a technique to pass the time. Whether on one’s own or while chatting with other women around the fire, knitting could provide comfort and relief.

So… now I’m thinking about not only where DIY and craftivism converge and depart but also where does craftivism and protest converge and depart? In protest encampments like Occupy and Greenham, are other acts outside of typical notions of craft also a form of craftivism? At both camps protestors had to cook and create communal kitchens often without electricity. This past winter, in colder climates such as Occupy New Haven, protesters gathered found materials and worked together to winterize tents and fortify them for inclement weather. Where do these DIY acts fit in? Just as DIY and craft in any other setting, through solving problems with DIY methods, protestors become empowered and create stronger social bonds. These are acts that are political in that they are in a protest environment and that they are defying norms, defying the obstacles that come with prolonged outdoor protest. Please feel free to share your thoughts on this.

During our conversation, we explored how his research can apply specifically to the Occupy movement. What I find the most interesting about Otto’s work, is that he’s constantly trying to break down codes, the paths we inhabit and applying it directly to his practice in fashion and making. “…I think a lot about what resistance is today. If we are not going to the streets to demonstrate, convince other people or the media that our cause is right, how do we build other strategies,other points of departure for work? Occupy Wall Street tries to address banking, democracy – how can we as crafters address that? How can we as crafters make a discussion culture where we discuss as we work?”

Craft has a long history of resistance, the best example of this resistance came out of the Industrial Revolution with William Morris and the Arts & Crafts Movement. Industrialization and consumerism have had such a huge impact on our society and part of craft’s role today has become a resistance to a culture that constantly sells itself to us. As Otto puts it,“perhaps our only meaningful activity today is somehow related to consumption – if that’s watching TV and therefore commercials or buying a ticket to the cinema, everything is somehow funneled through the narrow field of consumerism. I think craft tries to find other ways of discussing what is meaningful time.”

Occupy has received a lot of criticism from those who feel that the occupiers have had their chance to have their say – they can vote with their money or with their elective vote. To that, Otto responds, “…that is such a limited view of what democracy is because democracy is freedom of speech, freedom of assembly all these sort of things that creates the public discussion. I think that there is something really corrupt when we all start to think that it is only the act of voting that is the democracy. So an activist becomes one who has a social agenda that acts outside the narrowly legitimized scope of what democracy is.”

Otto then talked more in depth about the importance of crafting in a public space. It’s “powerful to see how your act actually connects to form publics. You know John Dewey and his discussion about publics – that there is this general public – but of course every issue creates a small public. Activism address THE public. How do we create small publics around every issue, around ourselves that then generates new influences? And that’s where I really think craft is a connective tool. How does your craft connect to other people to form a little public? And how does that act initiate discourse and disseminate, cultivate skills among your immediate environment?”

I think these are all important questions that we need to explore for ourselves if we are interested in craftivism. I found this discussion to be quite inspiring and I hope you do too. To explore more of Otto’s work visit: http://www.selfpassage.org

[During a short residency at the Harvest Worksroom in East Brunswick Vuletich aims] …to explore through textiles and cloth, larger ideas around quality and craftsmanship, emotional attachment to products, and what it means to feel connected to a place, a location and to a community of people.

“…Here at Harvest Textiles, I’m going to try to map these ideas of the local and what it means for Harvest and for the neighbourhood they exist in. In a way, this is a relatively easy site for investigation. Harvest are already a textile printing enterprise, who are aware of their ‘footprint’, and who have a positive impact socially (through their workshops and encouragement of local creatives). Also, the neighbourhood of East Brunswick, was actually the original site of most of Melbourne’s early textiles and garment production.

All of this is rich pickings for a design researcher. I have my new desk, and am sharing the space with a lovely group of people who are on the Summer School printing class for the week. You are welcome to come by and say hi if you are in the area and I would love to get any feedback or share a conversation about what local textiles means for you.”

About the Artist: Clara Vuletich is a printed textile designer and researcher at Textiles Environment Design (TED) Project, Chelsea College of Art & Design, London.

Exhibit at the Library of the Health Sciences, during October and November, 2003*

Adithi is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting women. Adithi’s mission is to empower a diverse group of Indian women living in poverty. The Adithi project is distinctive for its transformation of the traditional kantha (embroidered quilts) into a vehicle for expressing contemporary social and political concerns, including a broad range of health issues.

Since the 18th century, Indian women have made sujuni kanthas or embroidered quilts. This tradition was revived in the late 1980s when the Indian women’s organization, Adithi, joined the Mahila Vikas Samyong Samiti, an organization in the Bihar State, to encourage poor rural women to design, embroider, and sell these kanthas in order to supplement their incomes. The important theme of women’s collective activism appears on many of the quilts and affects the structure of the quilt-making process, where numerous women collaborate to create the designs, embroider, and provide one another community and support. Although they seek to sell their designs, the women have not shied away from difficult themes.

Based near the village of Bhusura, the quilt project has helped support widows, housewives, and the school fees of children, especially girls. The quilts display figures delicately embroidered or appliqued on cotton or locally made silk. Many of the figures are drawn from the lives of the craftswomen, showing their work, their landscape, and their social struggles. Among their topics are women’s work, domestic abuse, rape, forced prostitution. In this exhibit, the kanthas all illustrate the women’s efforts to improve their health care.

For more information see: Sandra Gunning, “Re-Crafting Contemporary Female Voices: The Revival of Quilt-Making among Rural Hindu Women of Eastern India,” Feminist Studies 26.3 (Fall 2000), pp. 719-26.

*countercraft note: After some searching, sadly it looks like this organization is no longer running, but the work it produced is still important and inspiring.

Tell me a bit about yourself.
I’m originally from England but have lived in Australia (7 years) and New Zealand (1 year). I live with my partner Lauren (our logo designer and personal photographer) and our dog Jasper. For my day job I am a manager of costume hire and before that I worked for an Eco Clothing label. My interests other than craftivism include gardening on my veggie patch, traveling and road trips, sustainability, baking and nature.

I love the Buy Nothing cross stitch that’s featured as a page in your zine – where is it from?
The Buy Nothing cross stitch is my stitching work. It was inspired by an ad busters poster, but I changed the words to be things that I like doing more. I sometimes take it to events to display if I feel that the message fits. At the time I was working on it I didn’t have a car and had to take 2 buses to work, I was determined to stitch a lot of it on the bus (bumpy ride) as I felt that by stitching it in a public space for people to see it would spread the message. People always did seems quite interested to have a peek at what I was doing!

How did you become involved in craftivism?
I’m not sure really! I think it chose me. I have always made things since I can remember. At primary school I ran a club making pom poms and I was playing with my mum’s sewing machine as soon as I was old enough. Soon after leaving uni I opened my own shop called ‘Peep Show’ to promote emerging local designers, as well as my own. I’ve always like handmade pretty things. I have also always had very strong moral and political views. I chose to be a vegetarian due to animal rights reasons at the age of 10, a decision I still stand by today. By identifying as a gay woman, I’ve become more aware of prejudice not only against queer and transgender people, but also racism, sexism and people with disabilities. I feel that traveling the world has also opened my eyes to see the world in a different way – inequality and environmental issues
became more apparent to me. I feel that now they have been exposed to me, I can longer ignore them. I became aware of a few people and groups using craft as a means to convey these political messages and I thought it was such an awesome way to affect political and social change.

What is your take on craftivism?
I feel that by marrying craft and activism it is the perfect vehicle in which to effect change. The thing that I love the most about the idea of conveying strong political messages via the means of craft that it is so noninvasive and unthreatening. I also feel that people take that extra time to look at what you have created not only because it is a thing of beauty, but because of the time and energy invested into it. I consider myself to be a third wave feminist, so therefore craft for me is about being able to reclaim traditional women’s activities, free from the constraints of pre-prescribed binary gender roles. Giving the craft a political or ethical message, for me gives my craft meaning, I feel like I am doing something to start changing the way people think.

How & when did the The Wellington Craftivism Collective start? Tell me a bit about your members.
When I moved to Wellington New Zealand I felt inspired by the really great underground movement here. It’s very similar to Melbourne, as the capital of the country there is a certain political buzz. After looking around for a radical craft group and not finding anything here, I met Emily Strange who shared similar ideas. We decided to set up a new group and the Wellington Craftivism Collective was born. That was about 5 months ago and since then it has rapidly gathered steam! We have 142 members now on the Facebook group from all over the world. We have quite a number of members here in Wellington who have been involved in various projects. The main members (founders I suppose) are me and Emily Strange who have attended and arranged all of the events. We are now starting to have a handful of loyal and regular members which is amazing! Different people have brought different issues that they feel strongly about to the groups adding to the diversity. I know that some members are very concerned about Maori rights within New Zealand and some other members are particularly concerned with environmental issues and queer issues. It is fantastic to have a group where we can all work together towards a shared goal of a better world.

How did The Wellington Craftivism Collective become involved with the Occupy movement? What projects have you done with Occupy in mind?
I had been a follower of the Occupy movement from the beginning as I feel very strongly about injustice through corporate crime and capitalism. Emily had had an idea at one of our meetings that we should give away free cupcakes to people. When Occupy Wellington came into existence, we decided to take the free cupcake stall idea there. You would be amazed at the response you get from people when you give them free things, it’s amazing. We had such an amazingly positive response and the ideas for other projects as well as an enthusiastic membership have snowballed from there. We felt that in the same way as craftivism, that free cupcakes were a completely unthreatening form of protest and an excellent way in which to get people to engage. The first cupcake stall became such a success that we ended up going back nearly every weekend for over 2 months holding more. In addition to the cupcake stalls, we have also launched our giant ‘Occupy’ blanket project. We have held patchmaking workshops for this project, one of which was at the Occupy Wellington site. We are inviting world wide participation for the project – by doing this and having the blanket traveling and exhibited we hope to spread the messages the blanket conveys to a much wider community.

How did the idea for the Occupy blanket come about? How is that project going?
The original idea for the blanket was Emily’s. I was always keen to do a large scale group piece and this fit the bill perfectly. Emily has always been inspired by womens insitutions and such that make as a group patch work blankets that are then distributed to homeless people. The idea for the blanket to travel emerged from a brainstorming session. The project is going really well, the overseas patches are taking longer to come than we initially thought but we do know that some are on there way. Its hard getting people to be inspired and motivated from the other side of the world without something tactile and tangible for them to feel and see. I think that when the blanket travels, people will get excited to be involved. It was amazing today to see peoples response from us laying down the patches, to show the beginnings of the blanket and what it will look like. People thought it was really cool and then wanted to contribute as they could see for themselves what it was about. I think that now the momentum is going it will start to carry itself. The plan for where and how the blanket will travel is now unfolding. We will be announcing the locations it will visit very soon. We are really really excited that one of the locations will be Wall St too!

Can you tell me about your patch making workshops?
We have had 2 patch making workshops now. One was held at 128 Radical Social Centre where we were able to use their screen printing facilities. We had people on hand with different skills such as operating the screen printing equipment, cross stitching and knitting which enabled us to skill share. The second workshop was Saturday, December 10th at Occupy Wellington. We have received a lot of fabric donations for the project which means we are able to move towards our goal of being able to operate sustainably.

At the workshops, we have had many people come by who wanted to take part and were keen to learn new skills that they have never done before. I feel like we have had a really positive response and been able to offer a friendly, social and supportive space for people to create and discuss ideas. It has been very important to me that not only is the ‘Occupy’ blanket a collaborative piece, but that the project evolves from all of our ideas. Talking with people about how we can reach a wider audience in a creative way has been just as important as creating the blanket itself. People really like the social aspect of crafting together in a group, everyone bounces ideas off each other and it’s quite inspiring.

What was behind the process for the zine? Was it a collaborative effort?
We decided to put a zine together for the Wellington Zine fest only 2 weeks before it happened! It was a joint effort and think that there are about 9 different contributors to form the zine. We are really pleased with the outcome and the response we have received from it has been great. We sold quite a few copies (just to cover printing costs) and the remainder are being sold at our stalls and available to buy at Freedom Shop. We know that some of them have been bought by people who are bringing them or sending them overseas as well.

What are your future plans for the collective?
Oh we have so many ideas!! Well we will be tracking the blanket online and getting people to upload photos of themselves with it on our blog. We plan to have an exhibition with the blanket once it returns back to Wellington. We have talked about possibly displaying it in a public window space to give it a wider audience than a gallery. We hope to have another zine at some stage, we would like to talk about the people participating in the blanket project and the journeys behind the blanket patches as some have very cool stories! We hope to hold a vegan ‘pot luck’ dinner craft bombing workshop soon where we hope to go out after dark and yarnbomb the town, the inspiration for this is ‘Buy Nothing Xmas.’ I am keen to do several other projects including a ‘Kill Your TV’ project to highlight the misrepresentation of mainstream media. We also plan to start a regular monthly meetup in the new year.

There will be lots more to come so stay tuned!

Occupy Blanket Project

Wellington Craftivism Collective is creating a giant patchwork blanket to show support and solidarity for the Occupy Movement. We invite people from all over the world to submit patches to us by mail, these patches will then be lovingly crafted together to form our united blanket.

All patches need to be 20cm x 20cm’s (please leave a 1cm border blank around the edge to give us space to sew them together with out loosing any of your beautiful designs). The patch can be made in any fabric based medium: cross stitch, knitted, crocheted, embroidered, fabric paints, felt… Get creative!

This is your chance to make a statement, use your square to convey how you think the world could be a better place.

Send completed patches to:
7/b Blucher Ave, Newtown, Wellington, New Zealand.

Please invite your friends to take part!

Love the Wellington Craftivism Collective

Website: http://wellingtoncraftivism.blogspot.com

(all images from http://wellingtoncraftivism.blogspot.com)

Max Ventura has been a part of Occupy Berkeley since its inception on October 8, 2011. She has been involved in activist activities for 30 years and believes that the work of thousands of activists over the past few decades has finally come to fruition in the form of the Occupy movement. Ventura has a tent set up at the camp and often brings her daughter and two sons whom she home schools to the protest, she says that their time there has become their civics class.

Tired of the press focusing on the negative stories coming out of the Occupy movement, Ventura wanted to start a project that was both positive and productive. A long time knitter, she decided that knitting with its tradition of bringing people together and its ability to create objects which clothe and comfort, would be a great activity to bring to the Berkeley occupation. ‘Knit-In at the Sit-in’ invites participants to knit and crochet hats, scarves and mittens to send to encampments in colder regions. Although Occupy Berkeley has faced pounding rains and gale force winds, Ventura was aware that their camp still has better weather conditions than a lot of other camps across the country. She says the knit-in project is “a statement of solidarity… a way to recognize that we are part of one big web” and a way to “share time and love with others.” Participants are encouraged to add a note to the recipient of the objects they knit to make it more personal and take the message of solidarity one step further.

The first knit-in was held on Saturday, November 26 and there have been three more held since. The knit-ins have been successful at attracting more people to the protest. At one knit-in a woman named Jennifer told Ventura that she had been angry for so long about so many things that have been happening, but she didn’t know what to do about it until she saw the ‘Knit-In at the Sit-In’ flier. According to Ventura, Jennifer said that the knit-ins have given her a way to participate. She has attended several of the knit-ins and has been helpful in teaching others to knit and crochet. A few participants who could not attend the knit-ins have sent packages with clothing they’ve knitted. “One woman knitted a bag full of hats, 10 or 12 things, each with a note attached,” Ventura said with excitement.

She has been overwhelmed with people’s involvement in the knit-ins and the way that its brought people together. Although knitting has an antiquated association as “woman’s work,” Ventura has been happy to find that men have been just as involved as women. Not only does Ventura’s two sons come to knit, “we had all these guys show up, five guys knitted the first week, it’s been so great.” She plans to send the knitted items they’ve collected so far to the Occupy movement in New York City and to Occupy Manitoba. Globally, Ventura plans to send items to Cairo and to Fukashima, Japan. “[At Occupy Berkeley] we can go to the 99 cent store if we need a hat… you can knit for yourself if you want to, but it’s really about reaching out, knitting a web around the world.” Ventura hopes that the packages will lift up the spirits of the recipients and sees the knit-in project as “a little gesture that will create ripples.”

Flier from ‘Knit-In at the Sit-In #3′