For my research project I'd like to investigate how the Larkin Co, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and the revival of Art, Craft, and Design had an impact on women's perceptions of domesticity, independence, and entrepreneurship.More specifically, I'd like to discuss how the Larkin Company introduced the idea of entrepreneurship to women in the 1890's by being sales reps for Larkin Soap. This gave women the opportunity to earn an income, while still spending most of their time at home. It also gave them a chance to socialize with friends and neighbors, which in rural American communities, was probably often a luxury.
Connecting this to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the Martha Stewart corporation brought craft and do-it-yourself into popular culture. Martha Stewart celebrated craft, cooking, and interior design, making domesticity fashionable and a marketable product.
Finally, in terms of Art, Craft and Design revival, I want to talk about how Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade goods, has taken Do-It-Yourself culture and turned it on its ear. The majority of Etsy sellers are women selling things that they have created at home. Etsy allows women to sell their handmade goods internationally, and is a secure internet seller. What's most interesting about Etsy is that many of the products featured on the site are traditional crafts: knitting, jewelry, screenprinting, and letterpress prints, but with a deviant spin on them. These aren't Martha's faux-flower napkin rings, or table centrepieces!
short version: the empowerment and changing roles of women through domesticity and popular culture.
Gabe, I am really excited about your project. You are going to be researching something that has been on my mind a lot as of late. As a crafts person facing graduation and trying to work out how to make a living while at home with my family these issues are at the forefront for me. I am looking forward to having a discussion about it. So many young women I talk to about wanting to stay home with the kids and trying to find a way to pursue my creative interests react to the idea as an archaic and disempowering one. I feel like the removal of the mother out of the home disempowers many families, and that the craft movement empowers women who make the choice to stay in the home. (This applies equally to men who chose to be stay-at-home dads)
ReplyDeletep.s. when you say you are going to look at Etsy, do you mean you will be looking at the web design of the marketplace, or will you be looking at individual "stores?"
ReplyDeleteJust curious!
Great project. It will be important how you weigh this towards empowering makers or consumers. Etsy is curiously parallel to Larkin in terms of being about "home-making": does it liberate consumption foremost or women makers?
ReplyDeleteCaitlin:
ReplyDeleteI think I'll be looking at the business model of Etsy as a whole, and the community aspect to the website. I think it would be a little daunting to select a few individual stores to analyze, because there's just so much stuff to go through.