What's so Modern About Craft?

Oh my.  The more things change the more they remain the same.  I'm talking about craft, about "making,  about handmade, and about respect. Here, in 2013, there is a DIY revolution in the midst, there is a locavore movement continuing to gain traction everywhere, there are old people and young people making and crafting and designing and yet the debate rages on:  Is it art?  Is it design?  Is it craft?  I say, who cares what it is called?

I was struck at last week's American Craft Council show in San Francisco by the living, breathing chasm exhibited at the show.  At the front of the show were curated,  designed rooms, designed by interior designers and inspired by - and featuring -  some handmade work.  These rooms were beautiful and cool and modern, and didn't look ANYTHING like what was being shown inside the booths of the show, where an older, warmer, and sometimes dated look dominated.  I appreciate the ACC trying to show how to live with craft in a modern setting, but I could not help but wonder, Where are the millenial makers?  Why are they not at this show?

My daughter, Zana Bayne runs her own business,where she and an assistant hand-make edgy, modern, leather accessories which sometimes could make a mother blush.  Lady Gaga,  Katy Perry, Madonna, and editors from Vogue are among her admirers and wearers.  While she literally cuts and rivets and dyes everything herself, Zana would no more consider herself a part of the craft world than Gaga herself would.


Less edgy, but equally handmade is the work of Margo Petitti, who crafts fine Italian menswear fabrics into sleek accessories for body or home.  While the thought of "crafted" scarves might normally conjure up hand-dyed or handwoven, Margo manages to meld old world and new, creating modern cool with traditional techniques.

The best restaurants I know, like  Coi in San Francisco, clearly show the imprint of the chef's or bartender's hand, with crafted cocktails, slow food, and dishes worthy of all the photos that foodies like me take endlessly.

And so I wonder, can the debate end and can we just relax about nomenclature and allow creative individuals to continue to use their hands and minds without our needing to label the work as art or craft or design?  Obviously, the desire - or need - to create by hand is intrinsic to being human. It is an unalienable characteristic that no matter how much we try to examine it or name it, lives on.  Let's let it be and allow it to flower in this century.