If anybody still has any doubt that the craft movement won’t be a global sweeping trend then read on. Globalization has had it’s impact on the way corporations create, produce and sell their goods but it has been showing a counter movement for the last couple of years: People looking for eco-friendly goods made by craftsmen, made in their home countries or with ethical values. Even better, if those goods embodied all of those aspects. But let’s not forget the huge etsy craft market place (founded only in 2005!) with thousands of artisans creating one of a kind goods in limited quantities.
Now this trend digs even deeper: Goods made with your own hands.
Within the last year independent companies, publishers as well as independent magazines and DIY stores are encouraging their customers to create things with their own hands. A multi million dollar industry fueled by thousands of bloggers (dare I say most of them female) that have spun a global network in which they don’t only share projects they do but also share encouragement, tutorials, inspiration and advice.
The Cool Hunter published an article this week about Sweat Shop, a Parisian DIY haven that offers workspaces with sewing machines, sewing and knitting lessons an even ‘french lessons in the morning, knitting lessons in the afternoon’. 
Hah, this is BY FAR not the first of those shops that popped up. A little closer to home:
Modern Domestic. My hometown DIY haven offers everything from Sewing and Cutting tables to even an exposure table for your own print making. They offer a great breadth of classes from pattern making to yardage printing with skillful teachers geared to all skill levels. Check out their class offering here.
Nice new and really well working machines, aren’t they?
But also check out The Workroom in Toronto, CA. Karen has inspired countless with her beautiful creations which she shares on her blog.
In Brooklyn, there are classes offered in sewing, jewelry making, printing etc. at Lena Corwin’s studio that are advertised here. She’s the gal who wrote the lovely book Printing by Hand.
Then there are independent pattern companies like Oliver+S and Figgy’s Kids that have created lovely children’s sewing patterns for all skill levels and many more 1-woman-companies who make sewing patterns available on etsy.
Online communities like Burdastyle for sewing and Ravelry for the knitting enthusiast have changed the way we don’t only show our crafty endeavors but offers everybody the opportunity to become a designer themselves making projects accessible for re-creation.
Publishing companies create hundreds of craft books that are not at all stuffy but rather coffee table material. So watch out.
It’s a big industry and we are just at the beginning.
