The Value of Craftmanship in a Digital Age

I came across a reel on my Instagram newsfeed, where a crafter spotted ‘machine crocheted’ items in a clothes store.

 

Instagram reel of 'Machine Crocheted'

 

Of course, we crocheters know that there is no such thing as machine crochet. This is due to the fact that there is no way yet that a machine can recreate the multi-layered stitches in the art of crochet. But it got me thinking.  

Being Gen Z, I only know of the digital age. I have grown up with the internet being part of my life. Like practically everyone, I too spent wasted hours scrolling through TikTok videos during the pandemic, when I should have been focusing on my Uni work. However, during my final year, post-lockdown, I decided to teach myself to crochet, motivated by the urge to make my cat a hat (see picture below). TikTok seemed the perfect place to learn. With this, my addiction to yarn and crafting began. While the digital world has facilitated my ability to learn my craft, I can’t help feeling a little sad about the art of crochet potentially being lost to machines and mass production. Here are my reasons why: 

 

Mental health benefits 

I would describe myself as a bit of an introvert and someone who has been battling anxiety my whole life. The process of crocheting and knitting provides me with escapism, mindfulness and a flow state. The rhythm of the crochet hook and knitting needles act as a regulating device, calming my mind, helping me to focus on the present. Added to this, I know that the end result will be something that I have created with my own hands. It is exciting! In a Gaurdian article, psychologist Sarha O’Doherty says that she often prescribes crafting, particularly crocheting and knitting, to her stressed clients. She lists benefits including improved anxiety, dexterity and cognition. Furthermore, she makes the case for crafting being a ‘powerful tool for processing grief and other challenging emotions'. (1) 

The Crafts Council also discusses the benefits to individuals participating in prescription arts and crafts workshops. Participants experience notable improvements in overall wellbeing with the release of positive neurotransmitters such as dopamine. Moreover, there is a ‘dampening’ of activity in the amygdala, where our fight or flight response is triggered. (2) 

Although the digitization of traditional arts and crafts has its place in the world, it most certainly takes away from individual creativity. As humans, we need to be engaged in creative pursuits. The art of making facilitates a sense of achievement, purpose and individual self-determination. There is nearly nothing that can escape digitization, and crocheting has managed to dodge it so far. I hope it stays that way. Obviously, I feel personally connected to crochet as it has been a lifeline in moments of anxiety and stress. It has also been my main tool for creative expression.

Keeping cultural heritage and ancestral practices alive 

I never knew my maternal grandmother as she sadly passed away when my mother was young. However, I have learnt lots about her through stories. She was an introvert like me, and a creative. Born into a humble family in Punjab, India, my grandmother did not have the privilege of formal education. Instead, she spent her youth and adulthood engaged in crafts. She was apparently amazing at producing tapestries and a gifted seamstress. A favourite story of my mother’s childhood is when she wanted a pair of Bermuda shorts (they were trending in the late 80s!). After relentless pleading, my grandmother caved, bought some fabric and made her a pair. My mother always likens her mother’s attitude to that of the tagline from a sketch in the 90’s hit comedy series Goodness Gracious Me. It goes: ‘I can make it at home for nothing! All I need is a small aubergine’. This was a common attitude of their elders, which makes sense given the economic challenges that they faced having arrived in this country with nothing. 

I love knowing that my grandmother was a crafter and a creative. I feel a strong connection to the grandmother that I never got to meet. Adding to this, I feel a growing need to connect with my heritage, and working with textiles has provided me with a gateway to do so. I often struggle with labels and identity, but I guess I am a third generation British Indian. My cultural identity is understandably centred around multicultural Britain. While this is great, I am increasingly feeling the need to connect with my ancestral heritage. I have a growing interest in India’s textiles history and culture and wish to incorporate this more into my craft in the future. When I think of my grandmother immersed in her tapestry work, I imagine the escapism she must have felt. I also imagine her feeling empowered in those moments. I too can connect to these strong feelings when engaging in my craft.  

There is a lot more that I can write about on hand crafting and cultural heritage, so I will commit a blog to this in the future. Fundamentally, I feel that the act of crafting can be a form of connecting with our pasts, heritage and our ancestors. It is a form of meaning-making and for me, it can feel like I am healing generational trauma while engaging in my craft. While machine-making might have its uses for capital and economy, it lacks soul and human connection. You can not put a price on that.  

Community 

My intentions behind Yarn and Sew was to focus on community building and foster slow-living approaches to crafting. My workshops serve to teach new skills while also creating space for new connections to be built. In a digital age, we all too often get consumed by technologies, only leading us further into isolation. However, as humans, we need to have interactions and feel community to thrive. Crafting together places more value in cultural and social capital. We can learn from one another, pass on traditional skills and knowledge, tell stories and connect. While digitising craft making has its place, I feel it is important to keep traditional craft-making alive within communities. It passes on skills to the next generation, brings people together, celebrates creativity and ownership. Most importantly, it is a therapeutic process, when done collaboratively, empowers communities while keeping old ways of making alive.  

Local craft makers vs mass-production 

Recently, I visited an open studios event at Spike Island in Bristol. While I was there, I picked up a manifesto poster from one of the artist studios, which is now on my workspace wall. A reminder to ‘embrace a slow approach, reject disposable society and disrupt capitalist system of consuming’. It is amazing that crocheting remains one of the few crafts untouched by digitisation, mass production and consumption. Going back to the so-called machine crocheted clothes I mentioned at the start of this blog, apparently, this is the work of a machine that can imitate the granny square. Although not actual crochet, it does a great job at imitation. However, it is homogenous in its design, promotes fast fashion and quite frankly is bad for the planet. I feel that cultivating craftmanship is a form of activism. Digitisation of crafts can be useful yes, but it can also take away from community, independent shops, and individual creativity. Also, I feel there is more beauty in a product that has been handcrafted. While I appreciate that it may be more expensive to purchase, someone has made something unique for you. No piece will be the same. 

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References:

1. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/jan/02/purls-of-wisdom-the-wellbeing-benefits-of-knitting-and-crocheting#:~:text=A%20mental%20wellbeing%20booster&text=Knitting%20and%20crochet%20are%20useful,cognitive%20health%20as%20we%20age.

2. https://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/stories/4-reasons-craft-good-your-mental-health