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

Main Article Content

Susan Luckman

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.

Article Details

Section
Amateur Economies (Peer Reviewed)
Author Biography

Susan Luckman, University of South Australia

Dr Susan Luckman is an Associate Professor in, and Associate Head of School: Research of, the School of Communication, International Studies and Languages at the University of South Australia who teaches and researches in the fields of media and cultural studies. She is a foundation member of the ARC Cultural Research Network; author of the forthcoming book Locating Cultural Work: The Politics and Poetics of Rural, Regional and Remote Creativity (Palgrave Macmillan); co-edited the anthology on creative music cultures and the global economy (Sonic Synergies, Ashgate 2008); and is the author of numerous book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles and government reports on creative cultures and industries.