Growing up in Seattle’s suburbs circa 1990, Faythe Levine came of age in an era of zines and riot grrrls.

By the mid-’90s, this DIY culture of creative expression had sparked the indie craft movement that–fueled by the Internet’s connective power and the commercial platform of sites like Etsy.com–grew into a full-on revolution. By 2006, Levine was a crafter herself, and so inspired by the amazing work she saw
happening in the wider community that she hit 15 cities across America to interview and film independent artists and crafters at work.

Levine’s documentary, Handmade Nation, premiered in her current hometown of Milwaukee, WI, on February 3, and screened three times this weekend at New York’s Museum of Arts and Design. Buzz had been building since ‘07 thanks to the YouTube trailer and the massively connected, supportive nature of the underground craft culture, so those of us who care passionately about handmade crafts and people who make them have been anxiously eying the film’s screening schedule–and consoling ourselves in the meantime with the film’s fantastic companion book, co-authored by Levine and Cortney Heimerl and released last fall.
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