From craft to community: building sustainable futures through hand crafts

Image © Nest/ Franca NYC

For North Carolina artist Mary Hemby, her calling to join the handcraft tradition came from home – the place she grew up discovering “the love of creating through the women who loved it before me”.

Today, Mary is the founder of her very own studio-store in Charlotte, North Carolina, where shoppers sip on house chai, browse beautiful handmade jewellery and home décor, and view the production space where she and her team bring these pieces to life.

Mary is a member of Nest, a US-based not-for-profit organisation that seeks to expand economic opportunity through craft. Nest works on both the supply and demand side of the global marketplace, supporting artisans on the one hand to build viable and sustainable ways of life from their craft, and helping to create pipelines for markets for hand-crafted products on the other. Mary has benefited enormously from Nest’s support, which helped link her to a wide network of other crafters, supported her to hire other staff to meet increased demand, and helped her build and grow a thriving, sustainable business.

“A big part of Nest is building community with – and among – makers,” says Nest founder and executive director, Rebecca van Bergen. “Not only is craft a livelihood, it’s telling the life story of many of the people we support. That’s why we provide creative entrepreneurs with thoughtfully designed training, resources, and opportunities free of charge, so that those stories can continue.”

Practically speaking, Nest helps craft workers earn an independent living from home, which allows women in particular to earn an income while attending to other demands such as childcare or education, helps keep communities and cultures intact, and allows art, craft, and businesses in rural communities to flourish.

Nest negotiates good deals for artisans with supply chains, helps grow demand for their brand, and it also works with global companies to support them to adopt appropriate policies that ensure home-based production can be incorporated into their supply chains in a responsible, ethical way. To this end, Nest has worked with makers and global brands to devise a set of ethical standards – supported by a training and certification system – in a bid to uphold fairness, transparency, rights, and wellbeing for workers in homes and informal workshops. Partnering with major global brands, this approach has reached supply chains across five continents.

Leti Bueno is Nest’s director of philanthropy for global programmes. While she is not a crafter herself, she feels passionately about supporting crafters around the world through her work. “[Art] is a way to be able to get beauty out into a world that really needs it,” she says. “Our funding helps artisans grow and thrive, and become beautiful enterprises that support communities – art saves us, and I see my work as a way to support that art in such a beautiful, impactful, and wonderful way.”

Oak supports Nest through our Special Interest Programme. Driven by the interests of our Trustees, it provides the space and flexibility to make grants outside of Oak’s other programme strategies. To find out more, watch the video below.