This article written by Payal Shah, was published in issue 06 of Social Technology Quarterly. Summary: The DIY movement has come to encompass broader skill sets, defining a whole new philosophy and appreciation of self-sustaining forms of living.

1. Kuliza
Do you remember the heavy metal band
Anthrax? The lead guitarist Dan Spitz
left in 1995 because he was “severely
disinterested in playing the guitar”. He is
now a watchmaker, and claims that it is an
unending skill to learn. Antonio Banderas, Sir
Cliff Richard, and Sting all make their own
wine. Even US President Obama makes his
own beer, the Whitehouse Brew. Well, he
instructs and pays for it at the least.
There are plenty of regular people who grow
fruits and vegetables on their own, raise
chickens, and keep their own bees. Others
are buying them from farmers’ markets
instead of supermarkets. Some have even
made it their business: The Mast Brothers
craft delicate chocolate by hand and Makers
and Brothers sell beautifully designed objects
for everyday use.
Even education is becoming DIY. Online
websites such as Coursera, Duo-Lingo,
Khan Academy, and Audacity offer free
courses. ‘Classes’ are online videos or
multiple-choice questions. Discussions,
tests, and assessments ensue. Certificates
are sometimes awarded; other learning
happens for the purpose of learning itself.
Mike Doherty, in his article, ‘The Story Behind
the Stuff: Consumers’ Growing Interest in
‘Real’ Products’, says “There is a powerful
urge to get in touch with what they believe
is a more ‘real’ world, and it’s leading us
to a place where signs of realness take on
greater value”. He thinks that this movement
is bigger and more lasting than the usual
trend and counter-trend shifts that we
see. He also mentions Melanie Howard’s
Future Foundation reports that indicate
that many consumers are also seeking the
“simplification of complexity which is about
the urge people feel to get in touch with what
they believe to be a more real world.”
Doherty gives the example of Icebreaker
Merino Garments that come with a ‘baacode’
Communities
The Maker
Movement
The DIY movement has come to encompass broader
skill sets, defining a whole new philosophy and
appreciation of self-sustaining forms of living.
by Payal Shah

2. Social Technology Quarterly 06
to allow customers to trace the merino
wool in their garment back to its source in
New Zealand. Customers can see how the
sheep live, read about their growers, and
follow production through to the finished
garment. Similarly, wooden cutting boards
from Banbury are proving very popular in
Ireland. Each cutting board has a number
that customers can enter into the website to
get a full history of the tree that the cutting
board is made from, where it grew, what the
environment was, and how many other cutting
boards were made out of the same tree.
We live in a world of the instant. There is
more ready-made, processed food in our
supermarkets than fresh food. Fresh food
takes work. Factories do that work for us;
from coffee to pre-cooked vegetables,
almost anything can be bought ready-to-
consume. In the 1960s, everything started
becoming instant. Women were slowly
starting to enter workplaces and this left
them with less time to spend on planning and
doing household chores and cooking. Time
became scarce. This meant that the easier
and less time consuming something was,
the better. Thus began the advent of instant
food. But in a world of manufactured clones
and standardisation, quirky, handmade and
exclusive is good. Slowly, instead of just
accepting ready things, we take the time to
understand where things come from and how
they become what they are.
The DIY movement is an adverse reaction
to the instant movement, a sort of a reverse
consumerism. People have become tired of
buying the same old mass produced goods
manufactured by corporates giants. The
movement started small in the early 1980s
in England, influenced by the DIY philosophy
of the punk movement. Its popularity rose in
response to economic downturns, such as
during the early 1990s. The volatile economy
of the subprime crisis has accelerated the
movement by urging, if not forcing, people
into being more frugal and self-sustaining.
It also acts as a rejection of the mass-
consumption of the boom years in the 2000s.
People have become more interested in how
to do things themselves, understand where
Top: Mast Brothers Chocolate
Above: Merino Garments

3. Kuliza
food and materials come from, their impact on
the planet, and produce products to a higher
quality than large conglomerates do, even if
it is at a smaller scale. They end up being
better designed, unique, and more personal.
People are unmistakably innovating and
evolving personally with the thought: “if I do
it, I will do it better”. Is it a small attempt to
control our lives and the exact way we want
them, and not controlled by consumerism.
People take pride in understanding how
products work, crafting them from scratch,
and knowing that their development is
under their control, even though there
is so much else in life that is out of their
control. This is a shift to a more holistic
lifestyle that provides some meaning.
Doherty opines that gardening and knitting,
as holistic activities, have been on the rise
for the last ten years. People are seeking
to create deeper and more meaningful
experiences. This is why both online and
offline communities like Brooklyn Brainery,
Kick Table (which has unfortunately
closed down) and Maker Faires work so
well. The image is almost that of reverse
avant-gardism, yet is still avant-garde. It
is a dynamic culture that is going back to
basics, minimalism, and self-sufficiency.
“Right now, we all crave authenticity” says
Kurt Andersen in his article ‘You Say you
want a Devolution?’ in Vanity Fair. He talks
about how few things have changed in the
last 20 years - clothes, music, T.V. shows,
architecture, hair styles. Everything has not
evolved as it did decade after decade before
the 1980s. He believes this is happening
as an “unconscious collective reaction to
all the profound nonstop newness we’re
experiencing on the tech and geopolitical
and economic fronts.” As the world moves
technologically forward at lightening speeds
and deals with changes of all kinds, we cling
as hard as we can to familiar things so we
have control over something.
References
Andersen, Kurt. “You Say You Want a
Devolution?.”Vanity Fair.Jan 2012.
Doherty, Mike. “The Story Behind The Stuff:
Consumers’ Growing Interest In “Real”
Products.” Fast Company.18 Oct2012.
Farrier, John.“The Lead Guitarist for Anthrax
Is Now a MasterWatchmaker.” Neatorama. 07
Sep 2012.
Kass, Sam. “Ale to the Chief: White House
Beer Recipe.” The White House Blog. The
White House,01 Sep 2012.
Wright, John. “Barack Obama’s beer: White
House to brew house.”Word of Mouth Blog.
The Guardian,24 Sep 2012.
“Cheers! Celebs Who Make Their Own
Wine!.” Posh24. N.p., 09 2011. Web. 20 Oct
2012.

4. Social Technology Quarterly 06
Right:‘I think therefore I am’
by Barbera Kruger