Alexandra Tan

Why do humans feel a need to gather? What is our anthropological and social connection to craft? How can we address the growing statistics of loneliness and isolation? 

Crafting Community: Craft as a Response to Social Isolation, is a research project investing the relationship between mental health and wellbeing, material anthropology, and community care. Post pandemic, there has been a significant uptick of interest in crafting due to our collective want and need for intentional, communal connection and the degradation of physical community-building spaces (also known as third spaces). This project focuses on community building through the lens of craft and making craft more accessible to communities struggling with isolation.

Inspired by the existing structure of regular crafting evenings in the Scottish Highlands, I created a toolkit that supplies community organizers with everything that they need for an effective craft gathering, reinforced by ethnographic methodologies and a series of co-created trial workshops in Forres, Scotland. I believe that consistent exposure to crafting can help reconnect communities that suffer from loneliness and isolation turn towards meaningful community connection.

My research project works within the context of material anthropology, traditional craftsmanship and our overall connection to craft, sustainability, sustainable consumerism and tangible making. My goal is to highlight local craftsmanship, craftspeople, and materials to explore how to make community care accessible to lonely populations around the world.