amy, from handmade evolution, started buying handmade for the same reason i did – and probably you too! she saw the awesomeness, quality, and uniqueness of handmade goods and wanted to incorporate that into her own life.
but, as she dug deeper, she uncovered the bigger reasons to embrace the handmade movement.
Because I’m a freelance web designer I have a lot of time to myself to think, and through reflecting on culture and how things are these days I realized a lot of things about how I was living weren’t lining up to the truth that I want to see… Luckily I found a local community through volunteering who hold handmade values very dear and they let me start promoting their local initiative via etsy – and I run that shop – just work – for them.
amy became so motivated to implement change that she created her blog as a place to promote indie design, fashion, and home decor as a viable alternative to mass-produced goods made in factories with less-than-stellar working conditions in countries with less-than-stellar human rights track records.
you can also find her cute prints {see above} at her new shop, field trip!
so does amy see herself as a success?
At this point I don’t know exactly what my success will be – my hope is to find ways to encourage positive consumption, concern for the environment and to elevate artists and to be even more involved in my local community – I believe in the arts so strongly – and craft’s ability to impact change… I would like to see a culture shift in North America that is more focused on doing good, making, supporting local and artists, and less on consumption, status etc. If I am just a small part of that, that is ok with me. If I am to have a bigger “voice” that’s really great too. It’s a movement I’m very happy to be part of one way or another.
click over to handmade evolution to check out her progress!
Love that print–it’s such a clever juxtaposition. I started buying handmade because I was just so frustrated by the way the things I was buying seemed to wear out so quickly and wanted to have to shop less, but like Amy says, it’s the community that keeps me buying handmade–whether it’s a lovely note from one of my favorite Etsy sellers or actually meeting in person, the *community* has definitely made my life better.