In handmade items, there is a genuine spirit that is so alive it is well worth hanging onto. During the City of Craft fair in Toronto over 4,000 people attended and made this the busiest yet, while the fair included handmade items from 60 different vendors. The City of Craft fair offered shoppers an exceptional selection of stained-glass jewellery, crocheted cacti, ceramic sculptures and many other handmade items.

The huge increase in the popularity of the craft fair according to the creative director, Kalpha Patel, also a long-time crafter is that mass-produced products are impersonal in nature and leaves shoppers yearning for something more. Everyone has the desire to personally engage with their belongings in a thoughtful and more meaningful way as well as knowing that items collected are of good quality and great value.

Hand-made Crafts are More Accessible

Apart from the City of Craft fair in Toronto and the Craft Week in London, online retailers such as Etsy is also a great way to purchase handmade items. The Brooklyn based e-commerce created as a platform for collector’s and vendors of handmade as well as handmade items have enjoyed mass success and now connects over 31 million buyers from around the globe with 1.9 million sellers. Dayna Isom Johnson, the trend expert at Etsy, shared that the continuing popularity of customisation is the main reason why the company gravitated towards items that are handmade. The beauty of each item is its uniqueness, every piece has a story and at the same time is a great conversation maker.

In Halifax, Gary Markle leads the craft division of the NSCAD University and feels that the handmade craft economy is ripening the DIY era in which individuals understand that what is really worth a lot of cash is handmade items such as hand-knitted sweaters. It recalibrates what the value of an item is once buyers participate and experience the making process.

Patchwork Part of Christian Dior Spring 2018 Runways

Whether suggested or real, it was the aesthetic of craft that was visible all over the runways of Spring 2018. Stella McCarthy and Jil Sander channelled macramé, while Calvin Klein incorporated quilting and Christian Dior patchwork. Alexander McQueen fashion included floral needlepoint, and ribbons turned up at Christopher Kane, Dolce & Gabbana and Chanel. In 2016, the Financial Times published that an integral part to any design is the craft, it teaches us all what something is about, more about the materials and how it works. Basically, it let us know where we are at that moment.

Have We Finally Entered an Era Where Everyone Loves the Imperfections of Things Made by the Human Hand? The spirit of each hand-made item lies in the magic of the human touch and is conveyed from our hands to something made with love. If something is made with intention, Love is the intention, its substantial. Capturing that feeling is priceless in today’s digital era!