AUT has a Craft Club?! (You're soo welcome)

OPINION | ARTS | HANGA / CRAFT

Written by Julianna Extross (she/her) | @autcraftcollective | Contributing Writer

Guys, I love craft.

Craft encapsulates everything that I’m fascinated with and inspired by. When I was younger and trying to pursue the arts, it always felt like what I made was never good enough, that I was not creating anything that wowed people. But, years later, I’m still here, and I’m still making. I think when you create anything, there's a sense of pride in saying, “You like it? I made it!” With all of the millions of mass-produced, machine-made products out there, when you find something beautiful and come to realise that it is handmade, it makes the object much more special. To acknowledge that someone was involved in all parts of its creation, and every feature is  intentional and unique. It’s like nothing else out there – and it's mine.

Like many people, I left high school feeling lost and unsure about my future. Most of my friends seemed so far ahead of me, advancing in their lives while they studied at university, while I worked a job in retail, which was slowly draining me of my life force. It didn’t feel like my life was my own. Time was passing, but I didn't feel present through any of it. Soon enough, the algorithm dug its claws all the way in me, and I let it; it was so easy. At the same time, I had collected so many pretty sketchbooks over the years, but was too scared to touch them, because I felt that breaking into them meant having to create the best thing ever made. I remember the day I bought something big with money I had earned for the first time, and I wanted a way to celebrate and remember that moment. I pasted the receipt into my journal, along with the tags, its packaging and a bunch of stickers I had been afraid to use until that point, and I wrote that feeling down… it was intentional and liberating. Not only had I found a way to capture this moment, but how it made me feel. Now, when I look back at those pages, the feelings come flooding back again.

I think any junk journaler will tell you that once you start journaling, you begin to hunt for small pieces of every moment and notice things that you never noticed before. Restaurant business cards, pretty packaging, arcade tokens, wine labels, textured wrapping paper, postcards, fabric scraps, magazine cutouts – and the list goes on. I think it also makes you realise just how much waste we consume as a society. While these things are commonly treated as disposable, unimportant “junk”, I’ve found that putting them in my journal memorialises moments and gives them a long-term purpose. In an attempt to find my own purpose, I returned to my studies at AUT, which, after a gap year, felt daunting. In my head, I felt that everyone had clustered into their high school groups, and I made myself feel like an outsider – hence my move towards the AUT Club space, in pursuit of friendship. I scrolled ALL the way to the bottom of the website, only to find nothing piqued my interest, and that if you were to join a club, you’re expected to have some sort of skill or follow a particular religion or degree. Again, I felt disconnected.

After having this conversation with my friend, Alex, we decided that this was our chance to create the space that we wanted. We knew there were so many resources available to us through the university, and that the channel wasn’t available to us… just yet. Queue: the birth of the AUT Craft Collective! I was shocked that there hadn’t been more of an effort to create a space like this at AUT before, because every day I’d see people on campus with such strong self-expression, and I knew they all had at least some affinity with creativity. 

For us, a big part of creating the club was its accessibility and sustainability. We live in such a fast-paced world, and especially under the capitalistic rhetoric of individualism and ownership of one's own property, we forget that community and sharing resources are some of the most functional ways of living. I know myself and many other serial hobbyists have a box under our bed stuffed full of craft materials and unfinished projects – if we all collected those things together, imagine the things we could create. Almost like there’s a need for a craft… collective… You guys see what I’m getting at? Providing a space where anyone can come with no expectations – just create and share ideas with the company and the support of others. The concepts surrounding the Craft Collective were largely inspired by how my architecture classes functioned; the deliberate collaboration and open exchange of ideas within a shared studio space were integral to the growth of my own creativity. 

I struggled with the pressures of perfectionism within my projects, which eventually led me into a deep art block, where I had forgotten why I had enjoyed any of this to begin with. I believe that obsession with perfection can often lead to a lot of self-doubt and the death of individuality, especially within art. Expression must come with all its quirks and imperfections; that's what makes it special and its own. Not to mention, the number of genius creatives I know who pursue other industries, because of the undervaluation of art and its association with financial instability. 

You can have both, you know! You are a multifaceted person, and you don’t have to stick to one thing forever. Join Craft Collective and make things with us!

We’ve hosted once, so far, and let’s just say… people turned up. The student response to our first event was overwhelming but surreal. It was obvious that people wanted this space badly, and we were excited to see how they would use it.

Above: Sashiko Workshop x fashion collective. Learning the Japanese technique of decorative mending and extending the lifespan of our clothing!

Once everyone was settled in and making, there were many of us who felt an immediate sense of community and found ourselves in an environment where conversation came with ease. My heart felt so full, and while I knew I had at least a million things to do for coursework, to put it aside, just momentarily, to be amongst fellow creatives, became such a memorable experience. I can’t thank everyone enough for coming and creating this experience with us, because without you, there would be no “collective”. Earlier in the week, Alex and I had helped our close friend, Rasia, host the Crushes x Āhua jewellery workshop on Karangahape Road. Being able to see people’s different interpretations, while they used the same base materials we had provided in our workshop, was the same kind of expression we hoped to evoke within our club events.

We have so many exciting workshops planned for the future, and are always open to hearing new event ideas from our members. As much of a promotion this article may be for our club, I would like it to be just as much a reminder of how much we can be our own worst critics, and just need to make our art exist for the sake of expressing our own vitality. So whether that be within our club or on your own, create art that makes you feel things.