My whole life has been about the power of making. I’m a writer and educator specialising in craft. Previously, I worked at the Crafts Council in London, and now I write for craft magazines with a particular interest in the connective nature of craft in communities and the relationship between craft and wellbeing. I’m also a parent to a learning-disabled adult, so understand learning differences (and care). I recently started Quickthorn Books to showcase more makers. I run workshops in darning, crochet, knitting, and, most recently, making rag rugs. I’m proud to be a trustee of Heritage Crafts, and I can usually be found knitting in the corner.
It has some great links to recent research in the US on the neurology of creativity and how it’s good for you that I quote in my book. Magsamen and Ross focus on creativity in general, that is painting and drawing which the authors say can extend your life by taking part in just one creative activity a month. That’s a quick win.
I applaud anything that gets the message out to more people about the importance of our creative lives.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A life-altering journey through the science of neuroaesthetics, which offers proof for how our brains and bodies transform when we participate in the arts—and how this knowledge can improve our health, enable us to flourish, and build stronger communities.
“This book blew my mind!”—Angela Duckworth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grit
Many of us think of the arts as entertainment—a luxury of some kind. In Your Brain on Art, authors Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross show how activities from painting and dancing to expressive writing, architecture, and more are essential to our lives.…
Betsy is known as the Godmother of craftivism, and we had the pleasure of interviewing her for our book. She shows that in a world in which we can feel increasingly powerless, small acts of creativity can give us agency and make us feel like we have a voice. Her work with affirmations and collecting the stories of others continues online.
Craftivism is a worldwide movement that operates at the intersection where craft and activism meet; Craftivism the book is full of inspiration for crafters who want to create works that add to the greater good. With interviews and profiles of craftivists who are changing the world with their art, and through examples that range from community embroidery projects, stitching in prisons, revolutionary ceramics, AIDS activism, yarn bombing, and crafts that facilitate personal growth, Craftivism provides imaginative examples of how crafters can be creative and altruistic at the same time.
Artists profiled in the book are from the United States, Canada,…
Gifts from a Challenging Childhood
by
Jan Bergstrom,
Learn to understand and work with your childhood wounds. Do you feel like old wounds or trauma from your childhood keep showing up today? Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed with what to do about it and where to start? If so, this book will help you travel down a path…
Sarah runs the Craftivist Collective, and her work proves that it’s possible to protest in a gentle and mindful way.
Her book outlines some of the ways she has managed to create change through quiet activism, and she has a new book coming out soon, which I’m looking forward to reading.
'This is mindful activism . . . thought-out, strategic and engaging' Guardian
'I love what Sarah does! It's quiet activism for everyone including introverts' Jon Ronson
'Sarah Corbett mixes an A-grade mind with astonishing creativity and emotional awareness' Lucy Siegle
If we want a world that is beautiful, kind and fair, shouldn't our activism be beautiful, kind and fair?
Award-winning campaigner and founder of the global Craftivist Collective Sarah Corbett shows how to respond to injustice not with apathy or aggression, but with gentle, effective protest.
This is a manifesto - for a more respectful and contemplative activism; for conversation…
I had the pleasure of seeing a talk by David Gauntlett when this book first came out in 2008. He writes with lightness and humour, so it’s accessible and easy to read.
At the time it was a ground-breaking look at how craft connects communities and was the inspiration for many a research project after that. The launch incorporated making into it, something that I still like to do.
SECOND UPDATED EDITION, WITH THREE ALL-NEW CHAPTERS
The first edition of Making is Connecting struck a chord with crafters, YouTubers, makers, music producers, artists and coders alike. David Gauntlett argues that through making things, people engage with the world and create connections with each other. Online and offline, we see that people want to make their mark, and to make connections.
This shift from a 'sit-back-and-be-told culture' to a 'making-and-doing culture' means that a vast array of people are exchanging their own ideas, videos, and other creative material online, as well as engaging in real-world crafts, music projects, and hands-on…
Gifts from a Challenging Childhood
by
Jan Bergstrom,
Learn to understand and work with your childhood wounds. Do you feel like old wounds or trauma from your childhood keep showing up today? Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed with what to do about it and where to start? If so, this book will help you travel down a path…
Those of us who knit know that it’s good for us, helping to keep us calm, moderate our heart rate, and more. Rachael explores the therapeutic nature of making in her own idiosyncratic way.
I love Rachael’s voice when she writes, enabling her to be profound while deeply down to earth. This is the only book by her that I haven’t edited myself, so was compelled to read it anyway.
Anyone can pick up a pair of needles and a ball of yarn. And everyone can be mindful. Mindfulness in Knitting casts fresh light on this renowned calming craft, and reveals how the act of "knit and purl" can be the epitome of conscious living. Ethical textile artist Rachael Matthews unpicks the threads of this popular pastime to explore how knitting connects us to each other and to the world around us. Through personal anecdote and expert insight, she unravels the true value of what it means to craft, its therapeutic benefits, and the joys of mindful making.
It is a rallying call for practical education. Why is it that we value the work we do with our heads more highly than the work we do with our hands? What if we valued the stone mason as much as the marketing director, or if becoming an apprentice was as celebrated as going to university?
Creative education is in decline, and the ripples are being felt in wider society—disruptive behaviour in school and a deficit of attention. As we hurtle into the fourth industrial revolution, we risk losing the craft skills that make humans unique. This book asks what got us to this place and, more importantly, how we can change it.
