The Covid-19 pandemic moved the world online to work, learn, shop, socialise and consume entertainment. This adoption of the virtual is striking in the tactile realm of craft, which has already witnessed a growing number of practitioners using this online space since the early 2000s. Bringing together Modern Craft and New Media studies this multidisciplinary research investigates the dynamic transformation of crafting through social media and the craft revival; from the smartphone’s arrival to the evolving effects of the pandemic. This democratisation of craft enables new identities to emerge as underrepresented groups are able to access skills, share knowledge and build a presence in the craft sector as traditional barriers to entry are removed. Social media enabled access to those limited by social, financial and time constrains and challenges the conventional notion of craft learning requiring the co-presence of a teacher. Digital platforms facilitate the emergence of new craft identities such as craft influencers and online craftivists, and calls into question, what is being produced, how is it being mediated, and who consumes it.

With a growing body of research on contemporary craft such as the Market for Craft report (Crafts Council, 2020) there is little understanding of social media’s role in shaping new craft communities and consumer tribes. Platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and TikTok are challenging entrenched craft concepts such as the significance of the haptic and the body, boundaries between amateur and professional, and the role of pre-digital craft structures such as higher education, apprenticeships, galleries and publishing. 

This practice-based research evolves out of first-hand experience and involves the auto ethnographical process of making craft, while sharing and interacting within these online niche communities. New media has transformed how we learn, what we make, how we communicate and who has access to knowledge and the craft sector.