CRAFTY ART

THROUGHOUT history, every civilisation developed their own crafts, creating handmade objects that fulfilled a particular purpose – decorative or functional or both, depending on the use. Examples of crafts include things like woven baskets, knitted items, handbags, candles, furniture, fashion design, jewellery, pottery, woodwork and glass work.

Crafts have a strong connection with traditional skills but with the emergence of mass-production methods to produce faster, cheaper products, over time individual hand-based craft skills became redundant.

However there has been a resurgence in the world of handicrafts.

Types of craft

Craft is structured, which means that it has a certain form that is visible. There are hundreds of different types of crafts that fall into core categories.

■ Textile crafts

These include any type of craft where you work with fabric, yarn or surface design. Some examples are knitting, quilting, applique, weaving and dyeing.

■ Paper crafts

As the name implies, paper crafts have to do with paper. Examples include papier-mache, calligraphy, and papermaking.

■ Decorative crafts Furniture making, metalwork, stencilling, stained glass, design of walls and toy making fall into the category of decorative crafts.

■ Fashion crafts

This type of craft encompasses all the elements of dressing the human body: jewellery, hats, leatherwork (shoes, belts, handbags) and garments. This craft type will naturally intersect other craft types.

■ Functional crafts

Many of the four other types of crafts can also be classified as functional. These crafts not only look good but can also be used in day-to-day life. For example, pottery and furniture.