Friday, February 1, 2013

New trend in Germany: crafting encounters



Crafting usually was done at home,
crochetting and knitting mainly by older ladies and women in the evening in front of the TV.
Now even young guys have discovered the idea of creating your own customized beanies and scarfs.
I heard about "My Boshi" in a German podcast the first time. Apparently they are two German guys who were on a ski instructor exchange in Japan. In the evening there weren't much possibilities to go out because they were in a small town. So they spent the time after skiing talking with the other ski instructors. One Spanish girl was crocheting and taught them. Afterwards they made a two week trip in the country and many people wanted to know where they had bought their unusual beanies. Then two Australians even wanted to buy their caps. That's when they had their business idea. They created an online shop where everybody can decide about the color and design of his cap. The caps are then hand crocheted corresponding to his wishes.
By the way - boshi means cap in Japanese.
In the meantime they also have created a book with patterns for different caps and labels to sew on the beanie you created yourself. For beginners they started a crochet guide.  In my opinion they were very good at combining an old craft with modern design and marketing on the web and social media. They also have a blog where they invite their customers to send pictures of themselves with their boshi and the kind of sport they use it for.
Another customized crafting/Web 2.0 encounter is Ella&Paul. The company produces stuffed toys using the designs made by children.
Michaela Sulz invented the "Trostbox" - (comfort box) for children for different kind of illnesses like fever, cold or tummy ache.

Of course everybody knows pinterest and it is also a great place to show your crafted articles or the ones you like made by others.
Etsy exists in Germany, too. Moreover we have another place which is called Dawanda where people sell their hand made products.














An then web meets again real live, crafting cafes have come up since some time.
Guerilla knitting is the trend, just have a look at these pictures.
In Fellbach near Stuttgart there is "Wollcafe".
You can just have a coffee and a chat, buy yourself some wool for your next project or knit and crochet along with other "aficionados". They also have a facebook page.
Creativ Cafe in Tamm in the north of Stuttgart  offers courses in crafting like crocheting, sewing, knitting, scrapbooking etc. as well as coffee and sale of some of their hand made products.
Stuttgart offers encounters every 6th of the month in the Laboratorium
A place in Schorndorf offers courses in crafting and sale of pearls, beads and wool.
Not only in the south of Germany, many other cities have their "Strickcafe" - "Knitting Coffee Shop":
Leipzig, Berlin,


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