5-10 years ago when I was telling people that I love crocheting they would look at me as if they just saw a living proof that Giorgio Tsoukalos is right. Priceless reaction btw!. Nowadays I mainly hear ‘oh this is cool, tell me more!’. Hand craft is booming!
I like to stay on top of what is going on in the arts and crafts industry. It amazes me how much is happening right now. About two years ago I would barely receive any Google alerts on this topic. Right now I’m bombarded with news and cool stuff to read.
The crafting craze
Let’s face it – it was expected. You gotta do something while staying at home during lockdown, right? On top of crafts being a pastime, there are literally thousands of small businesses that arose over the past year within arts and crafts industry. Either as a result of job loss, or simply through discovering that you are good at it and can turn your passion into a paycheck.
Stories like Caroline and her dog bed making business, or Jenna making scented candles are just examples of newly born entrepreneurs (well done, btw!). Even Michelle Obama showed her pieces of knitted artwork, that has to mean something 😉
Sometimes you’re the bug, sometimes you’re the windshield
As with any market turbulence, some businesses gain, some businesses loose. This is the time for crafts industry to flourish. Target launches new brand called Mondo Llama, JOANN and LoveCrafts decide to go public.
I anticipated the upturn on the market, I don’t think I expected such a boom though. While I’m delighted to see that flip in trend, I’m also very curious if it will be maintained once our lives go back to normal. Or fairly normal. The number of transactions made through such selling platforms as eBay, Ravelry, Etsy or Amazon Handmade skyrocketed during the past year. But how sustainable is that? Time will show.
For now I continue making Amigurumi Patterns.
Stay safe and tuned!
I know what you mean. I remembered back in the days the crocheting or knotting were not as cool as going out to the bar. Now things have changed that we like things to be personalized now and just express yourself by being different. I am all for that. I highly doubt it that it will change, i find that I love all my crochet table covers and I am going to stick to his craft trend. It feels good to produce something that I did myself.