Ergonomic Standing Desks and Chairs

"Best Standing Desk" - Techradar, for 3 Years Running | Free Shipping | 30 Day Free Returns
Back

The Crafting and Do-it-Yourself Culture

Jun 15, 2021
1031 views

Nowadays more and more people are getting into the crafting and DIY (Do it yourself) culture. But who could blame them? Anyone would want to make everything in the house functional as it is beautiful with less money involved. One mother I know DIY-ed her way to her daughter’s engagement party. She just went to the dollar tree, had flowers delivered, and after a few hours had the most beautiful centerpiece I have ever seen.

Another was a firm believer of Dave Ramsey’s financial wealth-building method and did all her child’s 18th birthday party instead of hiring a party planner for the important day. I have also seen a lot of women create their own decors, storage and recycling old clothes for a better fit.

The possibilities are endless with crafting and DIY. 

Crafting is a hobby or an activity wherein you make decorative articles with ingenuity, care, and skill with your own hands or by yourself. DIY or Do It Yourself is a method of repairing, modifying, or building things without the direct help of professionals. This movement has been found in roots way back even in 6th century BC Greek structure was found in southern Italy.

Some of the ruins seem to come with instructions on how to assemble. Modern archaeologists have dubbed the ruins the ancient IKEA building citing the familiarity with the furniture brand. The region is said to have been the place where people have traded and mingled with the Greeks who have moved and resided along the southern coast which was called Magna Graecia and Sicily from the 8th century and beyond. 

The director of the British School of Rome was quoted saying that the ruins were “the clearest example of the mason’s marks at that time. It looks as if someone was instructing the others how to mass-produce components then put it together in a certain way.”

In North America, the crafting and DIY culture have its roots in the magazines, Popular Mechanics (1902) and Mechanix Illustrated (1928). The magazine was a way for readers to keep up with the current trends in useful and very practical ways, skills to enhance, the tools needed, and materials to have with what they need in their small towns or farms where their target audience was.

The DYI term has become more common during the 1950s.

This encompasses people undertaking home improvement by themselves, whole construction projects, and smaller crafts. The artists have found this endeavor to fight mass production and mass culture by claiming to be self-made. The skills in DIY and crafting were also a weapon in adapting to wars like the DIY creation of nuclear shelters. Along with that the rising unemployment and social tensions of that time made DIY and crafting a necessity and not just a useless hobby. With the emergence of the internet, the skills of DIY and crafting have been made more accessible to people who want or need them.

The first home improvement web content was HouseNet which was a bulletin-board style site where users could share tips and tricks for others to try out on their own. This is much like Pinterest we have today, but this is more visual than it is written. In 1995, the site HomeTips.com was established with the aim of delivering free extensive DIY home-improvement content created by experts. 

This is very much similar to the people who have endeavored to spread DIY skills in an audio-visual manner via home video. The culture has begun to spread towards other mediums like television. 

In 1979, PBS launched the television series called This Old House which started a DIY TV revolution. The popularity of the show was connected to the premise of educating people on how to improve their home living conditions and increase the market value of their house without any expense. In 1994 the HGTV network cable was launched in America and Canada followed by the DIY Network cable to cater to people interested in DIY topics ranging from home improvement to knitting.

A lot more has popped up ever since, Martha Stewart, Maria Kondo, and a lot more in social media even Tiktok has gained a cult following.

DIY has always been prevalent in the fashion community.

A lot of people, men, and women alike with artistic skills have this innate desire to make clothes that would stand out. In the present time, a lot of those fashion tips are gathered on Youtube. Some tackle handmade jewelry and accessories, creating and putting on makeup, different hairstyles and sewing thrifted clothes are a rage as more and more people find ways to circumvent fast fashion and support the need to keep the garbage from fast fashion down.

Anyone who wants to find fashion techniques like bleaching shirts and jeans, studying denim or hair accessories, redesigning or repurposing fabric, distressing jeans can find multiple videos on how to do that in the comfort of one's home.

The punk movement also has a lot of contributions to the DIY movement.

It started with repetitive low-cost touring with the band also recorded, manufactured their own albums and merchandise, booking their own tours, and helping other smaller bands get recognition. In modern times, the hip-hop culture picked up on this and created their own music and uploaded it to Soundcloud and the others created their mixtape on CDs or uploaded it on Spotify for streaming and iTunes for purchase. 

The DIY and crafting culture has a very colorful history which is similar to how colorful our environment and our life would be when we take it up as a hobby. It is very fulfilling and creating has always been good for mental health and mood stability because it keeps our focus on creation and production. 

The Height Adjustable Drafting Table ED1B  at FlexiSpot would be the best for you if you like to DIY or arts and crafts. It has a tiltable tabletop to support your posture when drawing or sketching your designs. It has a built-in drawer for all your DIY and crafting tools. It is also best for reading or watching DIY videos before you get started.