Message Board
- Did anyone see the guide book which came free with the Guardian last Saturday
(3 Feb '07)?
If you didn't see it, allow me to draw you a picture. Imagine an A5 guide with photographs of a range of undesirable crafts that would have been rejected for poor styling from 'Golden Hands' in the early 1970's. Add text in which the authors mock their own lack of skill and motivation at making the most rudimentary items (god knows how the poor darlings manage to turn door handles - I suspect that they must have inadvertently sewn their own fingers together before they started), and crown the whole ensemble by calling it 'The Guardian Guide to Craft'.9 Feb '07 - 6.22pm - While visiting my parents last week I was handed a copy of the Guardian Guide to Craft. Oooooh.....it made me wince!
While it is a great idea to offer the general public an attainable result from simple hand making, these are nevertheless pipe cleaner and string solutions which, forgive me for saying, would be better labelled as "homecraft" or "occupational therapy".
There has been an ongoing and long debate about the definition of the word "Craft" amongst those who make their living from hand making. The craft fairs that sprung up all over the country during the 1970's, where you could buy corn dollies, bobble hats and jars with shells stuck on them, did a lot to damage the perception of fine and contemporary craft in the eyes of the public.
The Guardian publication - as lively and encouraging as it is - unfortunately feeds this confusion. Perhaps it is time to find a new word for hand making that is the result of a long gestation of study and practice. Judging by the Guardian's publication "Craft" just doesn't do it!
The delivery style of this publication reminds me of thrifty war time "make do and mend" ideas. The mag is bright and cheery, and perhaps I shouldn't be so sensitive, however publications like the Craftsman and other seriously supportive bodies have worked very hard to give credence to THAT word, which sadly here is emblazoned across the front cover in felt! (Apologies to those makers who make and use felt in interesting and highly creative ways.)10 Feb '07 - 2.04pm - Who can rescue 'the "C" word' from oblivion?
We're all designer makers now!10 Feb '07 - 3.00pm - It's probably no use whinging on this message board as you're just preaching to the converted. It would be preferable to contact the editor or features editor of The Guardian. Sadly it's a reflection of the mainstream media these days in that so called journalists tend to be kids not long out of college on their laptops in Canary Wharf or wherever and not prepared to get out there and find out what really is going on, as they would have a generation ago.
The only way to improve things is to make our voices heard in the mainstream rather than moaning amongst ourselves. LC11 Feb '07 - 1.38pm - LC - I agree that the thing to do is to write directly to the editor in charge of the guide at the Guardian, which is precisely what I did before I posted a message here. My reason for posting here was to see whether anyone else had an opinion on it - good or bad.11 Feb '07 - 10.26pm
- Come on LC - The Guardian was also my first port of call, followed by the Crafts Council, Ceramic Review, Crafts and the Craftsman Magazine.
Are you assuming that all Craftsman readers are also Guardian readers? A message board has other uses beyond whinging. It is a means of disseminating information, garnering opinion, and in this case, perhaps, rallying support.
Hopefully you were sufficiently stirred by the initial posting to get hold of a copy of the supplement, make a paper plane out of it (craft project No. 6, rated five stars, completion time 15 min, page 12) and launch it in the Guardian editor's direction, with your comments appended. F12 Feb '07 - 12.03am