Archive for January 26th, 2010
My column on the rise of the craft economy, “Handmade is the new black,” ran in USA Today this morning. We have grown accustomed to having high-quality, reasonably priced goods available whenever we want them. So now, increasingly, we want to make our world special. Buying truly one-of-a-kind handmade items is a way to do that. It is, on some ways, simply a redirected consumerism, but since that impulse gives American artists a real chance to make a living, I think that trend is worth cheering. So please check the column out!
Laura Vanderkam is the author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think (Portfolio, 2010) and Grindhopping: Build a Rewarding Career without Paying Your Dues (McGraw-Hill, 2007). She is a member of USA Today's Board of Contributors, and her work has appeared in Reader's Digest, Scientific American, Wired, The American, Portfolio and other publications.
Write to her at lvanderkam at yahoo dot com.