Crafty commentary

In Cozying Up to Cozies, Penelope Green of the New York Times writes of the blog kraftomatic.blogspot.com, on which writer Marian Lizzi posts various odd crafty items she finds on the craft-laden site Etsy. Lizzi also adds humorous commentary to the pictures of strange items. She uses the "just sold" feature on the site and writes only of these items; as she says, "The thing about the just-sold feature is that it shows you what people are actually buying, that matches are being made. And that makes me so happy.” Among the items cited are crocheted turkey legs and soaps shaped like dentures. As the article emphasizes, "In a world gone mad, there is something comforting about the fact that someone is painstakingly stitching spotted dick, the British pudding, out of felt, or molding shea butter soaps in the shape of dentures, and that someone else is cheerfully snapping them up." Such quaintness is often the underlying joy of crafting; though these items are certainly not needed, there is something fun about the fact that they are being created for sheer creation's sake. As a design student, it's impossible not to make the comparison between such superfluous crafting and design. How many times have we, as students, been asked what exactly defines design and separates it from both arts and crafts? In my opinion, this exercise in recognizing craft for the sake of craft highlights the underlying definition of design: that it exists for a purpose, whether to sell, inform, guide, or explain.