click below to go see the video
Back in October at the Crafty Bastards Show, an intern for NPR stopped by our booth hoping to talk with Elijah about being a ‘man in craft’. Unfortunately, he went to get some ice cream. She said she would be back and I knew Elijah would be bummed. So we kept looking for the girl in the green shirt in hopes she really would come back. Elijah is borderline obsessed with NPR so this seemed really neat to him. She came back, her name is Jess Ginter, and she was super nice. Here is a lil’ bio about her and you can find the story under her bio. Take a listen, and if you have a second tell us what you think about men & the craft scene….
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO/HEAR THE AUDIOMeet Jess:
Jess Gitner is a recent graduate of Georgetown University, where she studied Political Economy and American Musical Culture, and has only recently realized her dream to work in radio. She cut her teeth as a Production Intern at The Bob Edwards Show and now spends her days interning in NPR’s Music Department. She also serves as Blog Editor, and occasionally Audio Engineer, for Intern Edition. In her spare time, Jess enjoys riding her bike in the city, writing songs, and enjoying a craft beer with friends.
Men Of Craft- the article written out minus the parts not about elijah…
Online arts and crafts marketplace Etsy.com reports that out of hundreds of thousands of sellers, only four percent are men. Is the number really this low? I decided to see what things looked like on the ground. On October 3rd, I hit the streets of Washington, D.C. to attend the annual Crafty Bastards Arts & Craft Fair.
I was confident I could find some men to talk to among the crowded network of booths, but I quickly realized I possessed no talent for sniffing out men. I approached several booths that seemed manly-one sold prints and pins of U.S. presidents. I eagerly approached the man behind the table, but he directed me to his sister next to him. She was the crafty one, and he was just helping for the day. (… )
I left Claasen’s table to find Figs and Ginger, a jewelry company I’d heard about earlier. Reportedly, a man was involved with the operation.
“As a guy in the indie craft scene, I’m definitely a minority,” says Elijah Wyman, co-owner of Figs and Ginger. “As guy in the indie craft scene specifically selling jewelry, I’m in the vast minority, if that even makes sense.”
Wyman runs Figs and Ginger along with his wife Rhonda, and he’s experienced the perks of being a man in arts and crafts.
“We’ve noticed that I sell jewelry better than my wife, Rhonda, does, because I can give an honest compliment without any fear of it being strange or catty,” he says. “It totally works. Sometimes we have this superstition where if we’re not selling, we’ll just have Rhonda leave.”
Most of the men I talked to admitted that being a man in craft attracted extra attention to their businesses, but they also admitted holding down other jobs. Scott Robinson, a soap-maker from Bunny Butt Apothecary, gives private yoga lessons. And Nick Nocera, a t-shirt designer from Allison Rose, is an art teacher at an elementary school. Elijah Wyman and his wife Rhonda, though, are able to work full-time making eco-friendly jewelry.
“Both her and I work full time at this and this is our only living,” he says. “We pay our mortgage with this. We make a good middle-class living off of what we do.”
Wyman thinks there will be more men in arts and crafts soon, citing changes in popular culture. It is becoming more OK for men to pursue traditionally feminine crafts, like jewelry-making.
I never did find the “man booth” at Crafty Bastards, but I did find a few men, along with their female partners. Maybe in the world of arts and crafts, there’s a wrinkle to the old adage: Behind every woman is a strong man.
UCU- What is your business and when did it form?
Elijah: To be able to build robots that could do ANYTHING I wanted, you know like fly or shoot lasers or turn chocolate into anti-fat.
UCU- Will you have a special $5 item for UCU’s anniversary?
