Beginning with the Arts and Crafts period in the 1800s, craft has established itself as a vital cultural and socio-economic force in Western society. As the original movement cooled at the beginning of the 20th century, it evolved under the pressures generated by World War I and II taking on different forms as it influenced various art movements. Originally a reaction to industrialization, shifts in culture - due to technological innovation and redistribution in the labor force throughout the 20th century - reignited the craft flame for the everyday American in the form of the post-war Do-It-Yourself (DIY) spirit.
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, there has been a resurgence of craft as a means of personal fulfillment, ownership over environment and as a response to commercialization and standardization. This, fueled and propagated by the Internet, forms the ideological basis for a vast, diverse and scattered community of craftsmen. Through interviews, questionnaires, case studies and extensive secondary research on the topic of craftsmanship (both historical and current), the idea of unifying this group of modern craftsmen and projecting their thoughts for mainstream consideration will be investigated. Many individuals craft for various reasons, but there are threads that run deep through craft that link the contemporary American craftsman to the thinker-maker described by John Ruskin in the 19th century. It is this set of commonalities and departures that will be explored and brought to the public’s attention through this study.