Why I’m so interested in DIYism

One of the reasons I devoted one of the closing chapters of Buying In to the DIY/craft/handmade scene is that while it’s clearly a material-culture phenomenon, it’s a material-culture phenomenon that seems to have, on some level, an ideology. Surely that’s irrelevant to some participants, on both the maker and consumer sides of the dialogue. But just as sure, it is very relevant to others.

Here’s a recent example, brought to my attention over the weekend: The Creativity 350 Craft Contest.

The significance of that number is explained at 350.org: “The most recent science tells us that unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth.”

The idea of the Creativity 350 Craft Contest: “Craft up a project that somehow creatively and awesomely expresses the importance of the number 350. You can use any craft technique you like.” (There’s also a T-shirt contest.)

It is, in other words, about getting the word out, on a subject of greater significance than most of consumer/murketing culture, and certainly of greater significance the predictions about The Next Google/Facebook/whatever will be. Crafty sorts: Details of the contest are here.

[Thx, Leah!]