Our Story
Our mission
If we want our world to be more beautiful, kind and fair, let’s try to make our activism to be more beautiful, kind and fair.
It sometimes feels like the only way to create change is to stand up and fight for the world we want to see. To march under giant banners and shout to have our voices heard. There’s time for the loud, there’s also time for the quiet. There’s time for the fast, there’s also a need for the slow. In everyone’s heart is a desire to change things for the better – it is essential that there is an activist toolkit that is as diverse as humanity.
Anyone can use our tools and services. We prioritise attracting and working with introverts a lot as well as Highly Sensitive People, those struggling with anxiety and burnt-out activists looking for a quieter, gentle way to protest.
We work with the charity sector, arts sector, voluntary groups, some brands and conferences that want to make tangible changes and share Gentle Protest with their audience through sensory workshops, presentations, training sessions and resources.
Meet our Founder
Sarah P Corbett is an award-winning activist, Ashoka Fellow, author and founder of the global Craftivist Collective. Dedicated over a decade to the Craftivist Collective, honing her unique ‘Gentle Protest’ methodology, combining neuroscience, positive psychology, campaign strategy and beautiful handicrafts.
Born 1983 into an activist family in Everton (inner city Liverpool): fourth most deprived ward in the UK. Sarah was involved in local campaigns from the age of 3 squatting in social housing with her community (they won!) and seeing first hand our community battling against the effects of inequality. At secondary school Sarah created a successful campaign to gain lockers for her peers and implemented recycling bins before they became mandatory. Sarah learnt even more from her failed campaign to eradicate ‘gym knickers’ from her sports uniform. She went on to work for international development agencies including Christian and as Activism Manager at Oxfam GB.
In 2008, burned out from too much confrontation, slactivism and clicktivism, and doubting the effectiveness of many elements of conventional activist, Sarah starting looking for alternatives.
Sarah discovered the term ‘craftivism’ in 2008. A word coined in 2003 by Betsy Greer as a ‘way of looking at life where voicing opinions through creativity makes your voice stronger, your compassion deeper and your quest for justice more infinite.”
There are many ways people interpret and do craftivism. Sarah calls the Craftivist Collective approach ‘Gentle Protest’: She doesn’t mean gentle as in passive or weak, but gentle as in compassionate and nuanced. It is slow, quiet, calm, focused, ego-less, hopeful and humble. A form of Soft Power, appealing to and attracting audiences to social change. Sometimes it’s lovingly challenging ourselves to practice our values, not only proclaiming them for others to embody. Sometimes it is influencing members of the public to change their own behaviours of thoughts. At other times it’s holding decision makers accountable for there actions or inactions by encouraging them to be part of the change our fragile world needs.
With no craftivism projects or groups for to join, Sarah was given permission from Greer to create her own craftivism projects. Soon Sarah had developed her own unique ‘Gentle Protest’ approach to craftivism, and had gained a following of friends and strangers around the world who wanted to get involved. And so, in 2009, the Craftivist Collective was born.
Sarah has worked with national and international charities, museums, galleries and unusual allies such as Secret Cinema for their Shawshank Redemption series of epic events. She was included in the Crafts Council 2018 ‘Power List’. She helped create the Girlguiding Craftivism badge (2018), had solo exhibitions in Stockholm (2015), Helsinki Design Week (2016) and part of group shows in Design Museum Denmark (2022-2024) amongst others. She received an Honorary Fellowship from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2022 for her ‘contribution to design activism and public engagement’' and her TEDxTalk ‘Activism Needs Introverts’ was chosen as a TED Talk Of The Day on TED.com.
What is Craftivist Collective?
Created in 2009 after demand from people around the world wanting to join in Sarah’s gentle craftivism. We are now a growing global community: We come together both online and IRL at events and happenings. We develop our skills, grow in knowledge on the complexities of injustices and how change happens. We share our ‘crafterthoughts’ we’ve had when we wish to. We encourage and support each other in solidarity to be the most kind, thoughtful and effective gentle craftivists and citizens we can be in our messy world.
Our gentle craftivism is for everyone wherever you are in the world: from skilled crafters to burnt out activists, introverts, highly sensitive people, people struggling with anxiety and those people who want to challenge injustice in the world but don’t know what to do, where to start or how to prioritise their energies and time.
People from all over the world have engaged with our Craftivist Collective to create impact, both big and small. From protesting garment workers' wages with Fashion Revolution, to holding politicians accountable for better mental health with Mind; and successfully encouraging Marks and Spencers to pay the Living Wage to 50,000 of their staff, Craftivist Collective tools have been used to make real and lasting change. They’ve also helped parents to protest air pollution around local schools, Girl Guides to promote body positivity and craftivists to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
We provide products and services to help people be strategic gentle protesters as well as nurtures a growing global community of quiet craftivists. Corbett’s work has helped change laws, policies, hearts and minds around the world through her innovative protests rooted in neuroscience and psychology that uses the process of craft (mostly hand-embroidery and papercrafts) to help activists engage thoughtfully in social change issues and respond strategically. Uses intriguing handmade products as personal reminders to be conscious citizens, as bespoke gifts for decision-makers from critical friends not aggressive enemies, or to leave as small pieces of street art to provoke thought and action from the public offline and online.
Our work has helped change policies, laws as well as hearts and minds around the world. We wouldn’t do gentle protest if it didn’t work.