Do you think of yourself as belonging to a crafts community?

Absolutely. I write about craft, collect contemporary craft 
and antiques, socialize with craft artists and collectors, take workshops in metal, fibers or clay, and lecture on the history of craft. I am more a "thinker" than a "maker" (in the words of John Ruskin) when it comes to craft: my current passion is drawing connections between the Arts and Crafts movement and today's green design/sustainability movement. But it 
is the crafts community-artists, collectors, curators, students and scholars-that sustains me.
-Beverly K. Brandt, professor, School of Design Innovation, 
Arizona State University, Tempe

I am so completely on the fence between two worlds: one being the design arts and the other that of technique and craft. If one were to ask another glass artist, they'd probably describe me as an architect-turned-artist who makes architectural art glass. I think that in order to do what I do with some level of competence, I must be a good crafts-person. But, I don't really think that I belong to a crafts community per se. My projects are integrated into architectural environments and for that reason are unlike stand-alone craft objects that are both beautiful and identified useful. I definitely belong to the arts and creative industries communities here.
-Laurel Porcari, architectural glass artist and educator, New Orleans, LA

Absolutely. I live in Western North Carolina, where it is continually humbling to witness the talent and passion driving individuals, as well as 
organizations, to create a unique place for making and living. Our community is built on over a hundred years of tradition and true grassroots 
efforts with a contemporary vision. We are blessed with a wealth of talented individuals committed to sustaining and augmenting the next generation of makers. This is a community of wisdom, brilliant vision 
and inspirational makers. I am honored to call Western North Carolina home.
-Brent Skidmore, director, UNC Asheville, Craft Studies 
program, studio furniture maker-designer, Asheville

Now is an exciting time to be a part of the international crafts community. The community is far different from 10 years ago: larger than ever and including artists from such a variety of backgrounds that they may not all recognize the common thread uniting them. There are the forerunners of the studio craft movement, its participants, the new generations influenced by it and now those involved in DIY.

Because of the increasingly blurred boundaries between the arts, this community includes artists who use one or more craft medium, sometimes in combination with other media, in the service of a larger conceptual statement. They make the critical decision to use a particular craft medium because of the effect: for them, the material is as essential to the message as it is to the traditional craftsman, but it is not their sole focus.

While the definitions of craft and its community will continue to change, aesthetic quality will remain the prerequisite.
-Davira S. Taragin, independent curator, Bingham Farms, MI

My craft community is thriving, transcending the standard media! It influences many aspects of life in New York. My friends include furniture designers, bicycle frame builders, textile designers and a master composter. My work is shown next to a three-person chocolate factory, (I am using the waste material from their cocoa beans to cast into furniture and objects). Nearby are young butchers inheriting skills from a butcher in the Catskills. This new interest in the handmade reflects a permanent interest in craft and in the meaning of the stuff populating our everyday environment, as well as a willingness to spend more on things made by 
a person with skill.
-Daniel Michalik, furniture designer, Brooklyn, NY

My ideas about craft are deeply connected to textiles, particularly the expressive capacity of the textile object. I feel kinship with makers who engage the body and mind in an interconnected dance that moves 
dynamically between sensation and thought. This textile community is unlimited. It takes only an instant to recognize 
that common bond, whether in Lodz, Poland; Bhuj, India; or Philadelphia. It's exhilarating.
-Wendy Weiss, professor, 
Textiles, Clothing and Design department, and director, Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery, 
University of Nebraska, Lincoln

I live in the southern Appalachian Mountains, where our small and eager handmade community is overshadowed by the extraction of coal. The habitual Appalachian practices of quilt making, wood shaping and produce preservation are the basis of our craft community and, truthfully, my ironwork falls outside this base. Strangely, it often seems that due to the industrial nature of iron, my days overlap less with our craft community and more with the metal shops supported by the mines."
-Marc Maiorana, metalsmith, owner of Iron Design Company, Cedar Bluff, VA