Handmade Detroit

What DIY can do

I’ve been extremely thrilled to read the comments about Handmade Detroit’s renewed focus. Over on MiLife MiTimes this month, I’ve written about how DIY might help reinvent Michigan. While writing the article, I was thinking of the recent discussion we had on crafting and consumerism. Heck, I’ve been thinking about this issue a lot. And I’ve come to more deeply understand that in a state where anything positive helps — whether it be job creation or creative rention — we are making much more than products.

Which brings me to another layer in the argument about what DIY craft can do. In this month’s issue of Wired, Clive Thompson writes about “How DIYers just might revive American innovation.” Thompson argues that working with our hands, developing mechnical skills, are an important part of seeing how the world works. “Ever wonder why Detroit isn’t producing 100-mpg cars? One reason might be that the engineers there spend all their time tinkering with CAD software — developing design concepts in a purely virtual sense. They aren’t ripping open cars to see what’s possible …” he writes.

If you’re interested in some of the ideas behind DIY crafting, a good place to start is Hand Made Theory.

And if you’re just visiting this site for the first time today, welcome! There are lots of ways to get involved in Michigan’s DIY community — our (almost obscenely) huge, ever-updating list o’ links is a good place to start exploring.