Page 30 - Constructing Craft

Nearly all men have their hobbies. After a weary day full of
strain and worry, our brothers and husbands rest by doing
something quite different ‒ something demanding a fresh
mental outlook and varied actions. Therefore, men are more
tranquil as a rule, far calmer and more philosophical than we
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are.

By the 1950s hobbies had been a part of Western culture for over a hundred years.
They were productive and relaxing and therefore were an accepted means of filling

in spare time. For some who ‘took up crafts’ as a hobby they evolved into full-time

work.

Craft and Necessity

Running in parallel with work as leisure was a type of craftwork of necessity ‒ a

hidden world of craft. The ‘making do’ approach to handwork became an important
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aspect of the home, particularly during the depression of the 1930s.
Manufactured goods were expensive in New Zealand and the productive function of
the family retained some importance. The production of supplementary items for the

household did not usually include such materials as clay, metal or glass but items
produced in fabric, made almost always by women, and wood, usually by men,

freed up funds for imported ware or to meet other family needs while leather

workers were required to produce and maintain farm equipment. Many items made
in the home were exchanged in barter arrangements and would often be sold at

fairs to raise funds for schools, churches and welfare organisations. Furthermore,

there was the possibility of earning at least part of the family income from this
source or for women to gain some financial independence.

Māori Art and Craft

The significance of Māori art and craft as the third strand of the genealogy of the
studio craft movement was fully recognised only in the mid-1980s when the

exhibition Te Maori toured overseas. Previously, it had been largely irrelevant in

Pākehā society unless it was co-opted as a convenient symbol of nationalistic pride,
used as a means of furnishing European crafts with New Zealand ‘character’ or as a

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marketing tool to encourage tourists to buy crafts during their visit. Māori-style
decoration was also regularly used by Pākehā craftspeople – often with only a most

Constructing Craft