Etsians Unite!
How a DIY online marketplace is hooking the masses
by Amanda Greener

Once a threatened, near-forgotten class of the arts, the DIY craft scene has been steadily rebounding in recent years. Many of those who don’t “do it” themselves have committed to buying wares of DIYers as a way of using their purchasing power to resist industrialized corporate retail gluttony. Although all the more conventional means of crafty involvement—weekend farmers’ markets and church bazaars, how-to books, workshops, courses, knitting shops and the like—are still kicking and provide face-to-face opportunities for consumers to immerse themselves in the movement, it is a newer virtual world dedicated to craft that is reaching the masses and propelling DIY back on the main stage.

Enter Etsy. Of course, Etsy is not the craft world’s first online presence, but it is the only website of its kind. In June 2005 the online marketplace launched with a mission to create a new economy enabling people to earn a living by making things, and in so doing presenting shoppers with more ethical and sustainable retail choices.

And there is a lot of choice, from terraniums to recycled skateboard cufflinks to cable knit coffee cozies to customized business cards to mural wall decals, the list goes on and on (1,277,442 new items were listed in April alone). Part of what makes me an “Etsian” (that’s the label given to us Etsy addicts) is an appreciation that most wares are made from upcycled or ethical, sustainable sources. Apparently I am not the only one who this appeals to: There are 2.1 million registered users of Etsy and by the end of 2008 Etsy’s sales had reached $87.5 million.

The shopping is amazing and wonderfully guilt-free. Still, their motto, “Your place to buy and sell all things homemade” doesn’t seem to capture the full Etsy experience. Transcending the traditional buyer-seller relationship, the real difference maker is that Etsy is not just a marketplace of goods, but a living and breathing collective of ideas accessible to all.

Web-based craft collectives are certainly not unheard of; yet unlike most sites, Etsy is not a community intended for the makers exclusively. An inclusive forum that invites visitors to share their interests and disperse viewpoints, Etsy becomes a destination ripe for artisans and consumers alike to jointly explore notions of craft in context of a modern, globalized world.

The Etsy model opens up this possibility by eradicating many of the traditional divisions between creator and consumer. It is no mistake, for example, that no matter what side of the transaction a member emanates from the structure of their public profiles are virtually indistinguishable. Simple gestures like this in the design of the site purposely deconstruct the assumed dichotomy of those who sell and those who buy.

The organization of the site also maximizes interaction between both parties. Etsians bump in the night in the marketplace—intersecting across their posted favourites, feedback on other buyers and sellers or through transactions. In context of social networking, Etsians connect through blogs, chat rooms and micro-Etsy “teams” whose members share a love of particular crafting mediums or who are from mutual locales.

Lastly, Etsy allows consumers equal access to the site’s functionality. Transparency of marketing stats and trends, handy business tools, as well as online workshops, interviews and testimonial videos of artists’ emotional and physical creative spaces are where the idea of craft is really fleshed out and the underpinnings of the DIY resurgence become manifest.

Etsy creates ideal virtual conditions to bring consumers into the inner sanctum of the DIY movement. Here they can engage in modern-day questions of craft, such as environmental and sustainability issues, labour practices, the legacy and value of the handmaker and handmade goods, the role of the artist in society and how the means of production affects a community’s vibrancy and sense of itself. Etsians obviously continue to shop, but they are no longer mere consumers of “stuff”, nor even of morally reputable “stuff”; through the Etsy educative network they are now a respected and legitimate part of the movement.

In this way, Etsy challenges the status quo between those who make and those who buy. Its power lies in its ability to breed community; to motivate and empower not only the dedicated artisan but also to bring consumers over to the DIY side…And, of course, uptake by the lay public is how a grassroots movement becomes a new reality…

Check Etsy out for yourself: www.etsy.com

Did you know?
Spring Wake Up, a mini-craft fair and do-it-yourself event co-presented by the Toronto Craft Alert and Hart House, was held on March 21, 2009, and brought several of Toronto’s incredible independent crafters to Hart House to celebrate DIY spirit. Spring Wake Up provided an opportunity for visitors to become active participants through hands-on activities, such as Operation Sock Monkey’s annual sock-monk-a-thon. This craftivist project invited everyone to make sock monkeys, with finished cuties donated to Clowns Without Borders in South Africa and distributed to children in orphanages and refugee camps. Spring Wake Up was a soulful, colourful and vibrant snapshot of the possibilities of DIY.