RosettaStone: CRAFT A primary, secondary, and annotated source reader for functional craft. By: Randi O'Brien

This is an annotated evaluation of the following:

Handmade Nation: The rise of DIY, art, craft, and design. edited by Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl
Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl, ed. Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2008)

Reviewed by Randi O’Brien

A book on the romantic perspective of “do it yourself” (DIY) artist/craftsmen, Handmade Nation written/edited by craft shop and gallery owner, author, and maker Faythe Levine, and crafter and critic Cortney Heimerl, is supporting documentary to a DVD under the same title. The editors present a compilation of personal experiences of DIY craftsmen for a target audience that could be open to the vast community of craft, however due to the limited perspectives (education, age, and function) this article reads more as a catalogue or an Etsy bio page of multiple craftsmen. My overall impression is that the author has missed an opportunity to specifically address the rise of DIY, art, craft, and design in our handmade nation. Few of the 28 articles mention the development of the DIY practice, as the title suggests. While the title suggests potential avenues of research and craft theory development, Levine and Heimerl compose these documentaries in a preverbal sales catalogue that markets the individual crafters experience and blogs or websites, which ironically is quite universal and uninspiring. This is not to say that there are no noteworthy or commendable experiences within this documentary, rather it is a question of what makes DIY an important and progressive movement within the crafts that Levine and Heimerl do not answer. Levine and Heimerl propose an exciting direction yet are missing the basics of description, interpretation, and evaluation that make for good documentaries, writing, and critical analysis; which this topic certainly deserves.

Readers would find this article useful in the search of exciting craft based blogs; however I would personally recommend Garth Johnson’s extreme craft blog for better articles and direction on DIY, indie, and contemporary craft culture.