a living and rebellious act, not only acting against
consumerism but also facing a society with decreas-
ing space and time for hobbies, and where hobby
work per se is considered as “unproductive”. Instead
craft becomes a tool for mindfulness and meditation,
but also for forming communities, connecting with
likeminded, forming groups with a critical mass of
practitioners to form, not only a rising amount of
internet groups, but also large events and festivals,
like craft fairs and bazaars, such as Bazaar Bizarre,
Renegade Craft Fair and Swap-O-Rama-Ramas (Sin-
clair 2006).
Mike Press at Craft Research, a research team at the
University of Dundee, in Scotland, argues that craft-
ivism “follows the long historical role of craft which
is a way of thinking and acting upon the world as a
means of self-development, critical reflection, edu-
cation and making culture.” (Press 2006) Some re-
gard it as even more radical, as the Canada-based
Revolutionary Knitting Circle with their slogan
“Building community, and speeding forward the
revolution, through knitting”. (RKC n.d.)
This might sound like a strong idealistic statement
and perhaps even politically naive, but put in a his-
torical context it creates interesting parallels with the
relation between knitting and consumerism in times
of conflict. During the Second World War the British
government established a special “Make-do and
Mend” department as part of the war effort (Rey-
nolds 1999). But also the American home front was
mobilized,The November 24, 1941, cover story of the popular
weekly magazine Life explained “How To Knit.”
Along with basic instructions and a pattern for a
simple knitted vest, the article advised, “To the great
American question ‘What can I do to help the war
effort?’ the commonest answer yet found is ‘Knit.’”
(Becker, P 2004)War meant scarcity and domestic hobby work be-
came a tool to support the war effort and help “the
boys at the front”. This approach to home-front sup-
port can be compared with how today it is instead
consumerism that forms the support system for the
“war on terror”. This can be exemplified in a state-
ment on how people in the US can support the war
today, as recalled by President Bush’s mother Bar-
bara:‘I asked the president, ‘What can we do to show sup-
port for America?’ He said, ‘Mom, if you really want
to help, buy, buy, buy.’ (Davidson 2001)In this context, craftivism might just be one of the
most subversive activities of today. Of course slack-
ers and other counterculture activists have also used
the argument of resisting consumerism, but the dif-
ference with craftivism is that it builds, it is produc-
tive, but not productive within the economic system
supporting the war. Thus it is not “subversive” be-Schalalala is a fan-scarf remix project by Rüdiger Schlömer where
the user can remix fan-scarfs on-line with a simple cut-and-paste
interface and create his own message. The finished remix pattern can
be downloaded in an enlarged and pixelated version for easy transla-
tion into knitting.