The Radical Roots of Crafting: Why Our Hands Have Always Been Political

Years ago, when I organized a massive craft fair in San Francisco, I found myself sitting with a ceramicist who had been deep in the crafting world for decades. We were talking about how crafting had always been pushed to the edges of “real” art—something softer, something domestic, something less-than. And that’s when she told me about the radical roots of craft.

I hadn’t thought about it like that before. Sure, I knew that people had long dismissed certain types of making as "women’s work," but what I hadn’t considered was how deeply intertwined crafting has always been with rebellion, with shifting culture, with politics itself.

The Power of Crafting as Resistance

The Arts and Crafts movement of the 19th century was, at its core, a pushback against industrialization. It critiqued the conditions of labor, sought to return beauty and intention to the things people used every day, and questioned who got to be called an artist. It gave women more opportunities to create and sell their work at a time when they had few options for independence. It aligned itself with socialist ideals and early environmental thought, advocating for sustainability before we had a word for it.

And yet, despite all this, crafting—handiwork, fiber arts, decorative arts—was always considered second-class. It wasn’t “fine art.” It wasn’t serious. And because so much of it was historically done by women, it was dismissed as hobby, as frivolity, as something quaint rather than powerful.

But we know better.

Crafting as a Voice

We saw it when knitters took up their needles and made pink pussy hats a symbol of resistance. We see it in embroidered samplers that stitch out words we aren’t supposed to say, in quilts that tell stories of survival, and in fiber and mixed-media art that holds deep personal and ancestral meaning.

Craft has always been a way to make a statement, to reclaim space, and to express what words sometimes cannot. And yet, in this era of “cottagecore” and slow living—a movement that romanticizes a handmade life—there’s a risk of forgetting the deep, often radical history of women’s work. There’s a difference between celebrating the cozy aesthetic of handcrafts and recognizing the power they hold.

Because for centuries, what women have made—textiles, ceramics, books, clothing, adornments—has been both a necessity and art. Both survival and expression.

And today, craft continues to be a place where stories are told—not just the old stories of our grandmothers, but new ones, too. It’s a space where LGBTQ+ makers, Black, Asian, Indigenous, and other minority artists are lifting up voices that have long been silenced, using fiber, ink, fabric, and clay to carve out visibility, share their histories, and dream new futures into being. Through craft, they weave identity into something tangible, something that demands to be seen and honored.

What We Make Matters

In a world that continues to push the feminine into second place, we have to remember: the things we make, the way we create, the very act of working with our hands—it all carries weight. The messages woven into a tapestry, the power in shaping something out of clay or wool or ink—these are not small things. They are threads in a long lineage of resistance, of creativity, of reclaiming what has always been ours.

Maybe that’s why, as we get older and finally have the space to create again, we feel called back to our making. We are pulled into something deeper, something we collectively know as women—the truth that what we create has always mattered. It’s in us. It always has been.

And this is what I love about the work I do—creating space for women to return to this knowing. To explore the art, the craft, and the sacred work of making. Not just as a hobby but as a way back to ourselves.

Because crafting isn’t just about making something beautiful; it’s about making something that matters. And it always has been.

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