Australians are increasingly taking up traditional handicrafts and putting a modern spin on them. Crafting has become very popular in Australia, with over 2 million Australians engaging in some form of craft daily. Some common contemporary crafting activities seen in Australia include yarn bombing, where knitted creations are placed in public spaces, and crafting done independently at home. Both solo and social crafting are embraced by people of all ages and skill levels as a creative and relaxing pastime.

1. 65
AUSTRALIANS ARE INCREASINGLY
TAPPING INTO THEIR INNER
GRANDMA TO PUT A FRESH SPIN ON
TRADITIONAL HANDICRAFTS
According to the Australia Council for the Arts, two million
Australians partake in a crafting activity each day, which means
that crafts are more popular than Twitter. Crafting can be a solo
or social activity and there are no barriers in terms of age, gender,
mobility or skill level. Anyone can make something of their very
own. We spoke to a number of practitioners across Australia to get
their takes on what’s going on in the booming world of crafts.
06 2014A U S T R A L I A
WORDS KYLIE McSH ANE
ENTER THE
CRAFTIVISTS
WHICH CR A F T ?

2. 66 67
06 2014A U S T R A L I A
A S Y O U WA L K the streets, keep your
eyes peeled; you might just spot a
colourfully decorated tree, signpost,
bike rack, park bench or even an
entire façade that has been turned
into a woolly artwork overnight. Yarn
bombing or guerrilla knitting – or
“craftivism” when crafts other than
knitting are involved
– is becoming as
popular an urban
pastime as paint-
based street art.
And it can be just
as prevalent in
cities and suburbs
across Australia.
Faye Alexandria, a
member of Guerrilla Knitting Sydney,
says the phenomenon is simply a matter
of “displaying knitting in public spaces”.
Guerrilla knitter Denise Litchfield,
aka the artist and blogger known as
grrl+dog, learned knitting as a child at
her mother’s knee and took it up again
as an adult after a bout of workplace
bullying. She now practises what’s
known as “performance crafting”.
Five years ago, as part of the Sydney
Design ’09 Festival, Denise helped
create Australia’s first knitted building.
Along with fellow knitted wig-wearing
Find the group
“Guerrilla Knitting Sydney”
on Facebook
Read Denise Litchfield’s grrl+dog
blog: dneese.blogspot.com.au
Take part in a knit-in for charity
with the CWA Perth Belles.
cwaperthbelles.wordpress.com
Book a workshop in “craftivism”
with Craft Cartel, a nationwide group
of knitters with feminism at its core.
craftcartel.com/workshops
Join a gathering of The
Auckland Knitting Group.They’re
held on the first and third Thursdays
of the month at 7pm. auckland.
knittinggroup.org
Knit or crochet with Looped,
a group that gathers in Hawthorn,
Victoria, on a regular basis.
meetup.com/Looped
Take a crafting class with Azure
Entertainment as part of The Hub
Project for the Wanneroo Council (WA).
wanneroo.wa.gov.au/Lifestyle/
Arts/The_Hub_Project
Learn more by joining
“The Australian
Yarn Bombing Network”
on Facebook
HOW TO
BECOME A
“CRAFTIVIST”
COMMUNIT Y
CRAFTING
members of craft group The Von
Trough Family, she covered an entire
Heritage-listed public convenience in
Darlinghurst’s Taylor Square.
“Guerrilla knitting offers a fresh
look at an urban environment,” Denise
says, “and an opportunity [for locals]
to regain a sense of stewardship.” It
makes them think, “we all own a bit
of this, so let’s take care of it.”
Denise advocates knitting as a
way to bring communities together.
“It connects people,” she says. “One
by one, like when you knit. In a way
it’s knitting people back into a sense
of place.”
Faye agrees. “Knitting offers a crafty
reward for people who resist the urge
to stare at their smartphone while
walking through the city and instead
look up to see what wonders hide at
what appears to be just another boring
bus stop.”
While Faye admits that guerrilla
knitting is not strictly legal, she points
out that “in most suburban areas,
residents and the council appreciate
guerrilla knitting as a non-permanent
[and thus harmless]
form of street art. So
installation is easy.”
That said, when it
comes to large-scale
installations, Faye
and her group often
work at night, under
cover of darkness.
“For anything bigger
than a single pole, people start to see it
as vandalism.”
So how is it done? Knitted pieces
are made-to-measure, prepared
beforehand at home and then stitched
onto the chosen structure. So next
time you and group of friends see,
say, an entire tree’s worth of branches
wearing “sleeves”, spin a (true) yarn of
your own and tell them what it took to
make it happen.
“GUERRILLA
KNITTING OFFERS
A FRESH LOOK AT
AN URBAN
ENVIRONMENT”
T IED UP
KNI T WI T

3. 68
06 2014
H AVE A YA RN
A U S T R A L I A
WHILE PR AC TITIONERS OF “craftivism”
are increasingly taking to the
streets, solitary crafters are making
contemporary art by hand at home.
Architect and interior designer Natalie
Miller does weaving and macramé
in a home studio in the Southern
Highlands of New South Wales. She
took up crafting in a bid to get back
Natalie Miller offers weaving
workshops regularly. She’ll hold a
beginners’ weaving workshop on
19 July in Paddington, Sydney.
Participants are supplied with a loom,
bobbin and hand-dyed wools along with
raffia and roving (fibres) and are taught a
variety of tapestry-weaving techniques.
nataliemillerdesign.com/p/
workshops.html
Pop in to The Crafternoon Café at 531
Nicholson Street, North Carlton,VIC.
It’s a kid-friendly space where visitors
can craft, attend classes and sample
selections from theViet-Mex style menu.
crafternooncafe.com.au
Grab a coffee at Canvas on the
Gold Coast, an espresso bar with a
community art space. It’s located at
Shop 7/2221 Gold Coast Highway, Nobby
Beach (entrance on Lavarack Road).
It’s open daily from 6am-5pm.
ilovecanvas.com.au
Join a craft group and spend a
“crafternoon” with like-minded people
at Brown Owls.The group was started
by Melbourne craft queen Pip Lincolne
of Meet Me At Mike’s and Kootoyoo’s
Kirsty MacAfee.The groups meet
nationwide and can be found at
brownowls-members.
blogspot.com.au
Get hooked on crochet at Granny
Funk in Perth, which holds crochet
classes in the Leederville area.
grannyfunk.com.au
HOME
CRAFTING
to basics in a fast-changing world. “I
felt I was losing the sense of creating
objects with my hands in the real
world,” she says.
A dyed-in-wool textile lover, Natalie
uses Australian-made materials in her
work and also creates her own wools
and dyes. “I experiment with natural
plant dyes including blackberries,
rhubarb, eucalyptus leaves and bark,”
she says.
Weaving appeals to Natalie mainly
due to the wide range of colours
HOW TO
BECOME
A HOME
CRAFTER

4. 70
A U S T R A L I A 06 2014
If you have don’t have
time to DIY, you can buy and
support handmade by
visiting these crafty spots
JamFactory has a cool shop where
punters can purchase crafts from
community artisans.There are also
a number of studios here where
local artists can develop their craft.
Says CEO Brian Parkes, “The increase
in the popularity of handmade is in
part a reaction to the same-ness
of mass production.”
19 Morphett St, Adelaide, SA;
jamfactory.com.au
CraftVictoria’s shop is a place where
local craftspeople show and sell their
work. Open Monday to Saturday from
11am-6pm, it stocks a wide selection
of offerings from both leading and
up-and-coming Australian designers.
Works can also be commissioned here.
31 Flinders Ln, Melbourne, VIC;
craft.org.au
Spacebar Gallery combines an
Old-World atmosphere with the works
of new and rising designers. It stocks
locally made clothes and jewellery.
Studio 021, Salamanca Arts
Centre, 77 Salamanca Pl, Hobart,
TAS; spacebargallery.com.au
and textures that can be created. She
does her work in a shed-turned-
studio on her property. “Mist rolls into
Robertson, Burrawang and Kangaloon
and I’m surrounded by endless green
rolling hills,” she says.
The creative process may be a
solitary one, “but being part of a
community of makers and artists is
very inspirational,” says Natalie, who
has long been drawn to handmade
products. “Someone has personally put
in a great deal of effort to design and
create something special,” she says.
CLEAN
SHEET
“I try to purchase and acquire only
handmade local products.”
Natalie shops at local artisan markets
and on the hugely popular website Etsy,
which serves as a platform where artists
can sell their handiwork worldwide.
Like many artisans, Natalie
periodically hosts workshops designed
to supply budding craftspeople with
materials and a friendly environment
in which to learn. Both the workshops
targeting beginners and those catering
for experienced craftspeople cover
everything from knitting to weaving.
C RE AT IVE HOME