Page 351 - J. C. Turner "History and Science of Knots"

344 History and Science of Knots

began in the United States; and it appealed to all types, again without class
distinctions. It became enormously popular within a very short time. By 1971
there had been at least fifteen books, and six periodicals, published in the
States which were entirely devoted to the macrame arts: one paperback on
the craft sold over 500 000 copies. Again an industry sprang up to supply the
necessary materials for macrame practitioners, and for all the other related
crafts which were enjoying renewed popularity at that time.
This recent revival has demonstrated, perhaps better than ever before,
just how versatile macrame is. Basically, it consists of combinations of only
a few easy-to-tie knots, and requires no other equipment than a length of
cord and a hook or doorknob. At this simplest level, it is taught in primary
schools; the children make samplers and uncomplicated belts and the like. At a
more advanced level, teenagers and adults can develop their skills by learning
rather more complicated designs, and by making useful, attractive articles
such as handbags, jackets, shawls and jewelry. These articles are frequently
of a saleable quality, and a great many of the goods purchasable from craft or
boutique shops are the work of this class of knotter. They are made by men
and women, of all ages, in their spare time as a paying hobby. Well made
articles can fetch good prices; for example, a shop in New York's Manhattan,
selling a range of these goods and appropriately named Macramania, was
recently recorded as selling scanty macrame bikinis for $32.50; and in most
western countries shops abound which sell hanging baskets, hung by intricate
macrame work in manmade fibres and offered at a wide variety of prices.
The highest levels are reached by fulltime professionals, who have devel-
oped macrame from a craft into an art form, requiring great manual skills
and aesthetic and design sensitivities. They are often now commissioned to
make intricate art-objects, such as three-dimensional wall hangings, or other
large forms involving macrame work, to decorate and enhance walls and open
spaces in office towers, theatres and other public buildings. For instance, in
the late 1970s a notable American practitioner named Libby Platus was com-
missioned to make a room divider for a Californian Country Club, at a fee of
three thousand dollars [5].
Now that the art has its professional practitioners, it also has its purists,
and its critics; and, as in other art forms such as music and painting, it has
attracted its `art snobs'. The Curator of Textiles at Chicago's prestigious Art
Institute has said of it: `Macrame is a beautiful and old art form, but it is
being cheapened by `How-To' books.' But it is still just as it has been for over
a thousand years-all things to all fingers; and whether as a craft or an art
form, macrame will surely continue to exercise a fascination for mankind as
long as there are fingers to tie square knots.