Made Well

I noticed this sentence this morning in "Pop Culture in the Age of Obama," a New York Times piece by author Kurt Andersen , and though the article was not about the great Art vs. Craft or Slow Cloth vs. Craft 2.0/DIY debate, it could certainly apply:

Maybe we can once and for all stop defaulting to easy categorical boundaries between high and low, and discriminate instead between the well made and the shoddy.

I think I like this idea. Mr. Andersen is talking about trends in entertainment and the cultural ideas we consume, but this sentence has something to do with the ideas that keep coming up here of elegant design, artisanry, and the marriage of beauty and functionality, or quality and accessibility, that we so admire when we see it.

I'm still juggling a busy work schedule, along with everything else life is dishing out (never mind trying to experience a little summertime), but did discover a lovely Web site for dosa inc., a clothing company using vintage fabrics that I found through Fibercopia. It's a beautiful site, and it looks like the company is very Slow Cloth-minded, with connections to the sustainable food conversation and more. I'll add some photos if/when I get permission from them.

Comments

[Anaka Narayanan]

The Dosa website is highly informative! A friend of mine also sent me photos of her store and apparently she has tables filled with info about natural dyes and fabrics.

[Lainie]

Hi Cathy, it's great to see you here. I think I would be speechless at a dinner party with those two amazing artists. You honor me just by putting me in the same sentence. Thank you.
(and for my readers, Cathy is a genius at sewing with Japanese pattern books, and does beautiful shibori and katazome herself!).

[Cathy Bullington]

Here is a dinner party I want to be a fly on the wall for--you, Rowland Ricketts and Yoshiko Wada discussing slow cloth. Or maybe you could just write an article somewhere so we can all read it?

By the way, I am enjoying your blog and some of the new links you are helping me discover, Thank YOU!