Elle Australia - 10.2018

Words: Genevra Leek. Photography: Sevak BabakhaniJason Lloyd-Evans

(still-life);

MOOD BOARD:

craft

Earrings, $445,
LOEWE,
loewe.com

Belt (bundle of five),

$15 each,

TREE OF LIFE,

treeoflife.com.au

Etsy’s sales broke $1 billion at

the end of last year, a record for

the marketplace for handmade

knick-knacks and vintage items

with a network of almost two

million sellers. After moving into Etsy’s territory with Amazon

Handmade, a platform for handcrafted, artisanal goods,

Amazon launched their Handmade Gift Shop almost a year

ago, and when the Australian Design Centre’s Sydney Craft

Week kicks off this month, the festival will feature exhibitions,

talks and open studios involving a community of creatives who

work with their hands, an event organisers say “speaks to our

fundamental human urge to create”. So too will the upcoming

South East Aboriginal Arts Market at Sydney’s Carriageworks,

where Indigenous artists will showcase traditional and

contemporary practices like painting, weaving and shellwork.

What we’re trying to say is, craft is on the up, more notably

on the international runways, with artisanal techniques that

speak of honesty, simplicity and beauty in its rawest form. Just as

many of us have been retreating to the rising number of pop-up

makerspaces, so too are designers looking to slow crafts, as if

by working with time-dense, highly involved processes, they can

slow the spinning wheels of the fashion train that’s threatening to

run off the rails. Inspired by the digital age and the availability

of groundbreaking new technologies, the evolution of craft is

a fascinating juxtaposition of time-honoured tradition with

trailblazing technique – take digitally inspired jewellery

influenced by vintage designs, 3D knitting machines or smart

textiles,for example. But the reputationof craft as a mindful tool

Bag, $8,000,

CHRISTIAN DIOR,

(02) 9229 4600

Heels, $780,

STUART

WEITZMAN,

hermanns.com.au

Dress, $200, SIR,

forartistsonly.com

Skirt, $225,

VERONIKA MAINE,

veronikamaine.com.au

Proenza Schouler

Loewe

Calvin Klein 205W39NYC

Ring, $540,

CHRISTIAN DIOR,

(02) 9229 4600