But does such a clear delineation reflect reality? Listen to the words of Teleri Lloyd-Jones, who in 2011 was the Assistant Editor of Crafts magazine, when commenting on the role and value of craft for an exercise of the British Museum:
Craft is a language of material, provenance and making. It is learning the value of things. Sure, handmade, well-made things aren’t cheap but their value isn’t solely monetary. It’s political and social – to know how and where something came into being makes us more invested in it, so much so we become more responsible consumers. The handmade has unique aesthetic pleasures in itself but [it] has also become intertwined with a whole bundle of different values, be they anti-consumerist, ‘localist’, green, or even just plain-old fashionable.3
Such a definition clearly implies thinking as well as doing, form as well as materials, uniqueness as well as sameness, use as well as beauty, and newness as well as cultural significance. As such, the definition seems to cross over from one space into the other. Could it be the line between craft and art has been blurring for some time, as our knowledge of making – coming from a more personal understanding of what craftsmen and artists do and why – reveals personal, cultural, and aesthetic significance? Do such definitions even matter anymore? And if not, what does? These questions seem to go to the very nature of work, the value of goods, and the understanding of ourselves and others.
The Business of Craft
Craft is big business.
The global handicrafts market reached a value of US$ 526.5 billion in 2017. Looking into the future, the global handicraft market is projected to reach approximately US$ 984.8 billion by 2023, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 11 percent during 2018-2023.4 North America is the leading market accounting for majority of the global share. Other major markets include Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America.5
Specifically, the North America handicrafts market reached a value of US$ 301 billion in 2020. Looking forward, the market is projected to reach US$ 531.2 billion by 2028, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10 percent during 2023-2028.6 The size of the creative market in the European Union (E.U.) was $35 billion in 2019, according to the Association for Creative Industries’ (AFCI) UK branch, and was expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.9 percent during 2022-2027.7 The United Kingdom saw a four-fold increase in the volume of craft objects bought annually between 2006 and 2020 – from 5.6m to 24.7m objects. This translated to a market that grew from £883m ($1.1 billion) in 2006 to over £3b ($3.7 billion) in 2019.8
There are two causes for this increase: new routes to markets were created and new digital selling platforms emerged in the early- to mid-2000s. A study conducted in the United Kingdom provided evidence of such. The study found online craft purchases had grown from five percent of buyers (332k people) in 2006 to 19 percent of buyers (3.2m people) in 2010 to 33 percent of buyers (10.3m people) in 2020. In fact, the latest export data on craft from DCMS in 2016 showed that the US was the third largest market for UK craft, accounting for £517m of total exports.
The study also evidenced that portfolio careers – a way to define a career that has encompassed several related or unrelated jobs – were commonplace for makers in 2020 with less than half of makers earning a living solely through selling their work. The activities undertaken to supplement income varied according to the level of maker, with established makers teaching either in formal education or at workshops. Less established makers were reliant on non-craft related employment to supplement their income. Makers were more likely to be self-taught in 2020 than in 2006, so while second career
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