The importance of tactile arts in the digital world

When an item is marked with a “handmade” label, chances are it’s going to be more expensive. But why do we value handmade crafts in a vastly technological world? Handcrafting and tactile creation is innate to human nature. We have been doing it for millions of years — no exaggeration. Our human ancestors made stone tools 2.6 million years ago and here we are today in 2024, still making. Despite rapid technological advancements, the human race continues to fulfil a desire to do it ourselves. There may be robots and artificial intelligence in existence (because we made them) but markets remain awash with hand-embroidered dresses and handwoven baskets; homes are sprinkled with handmade goods picked up on travels; clothing is still (mainly) produced with someone sitting behind the sewing machine; and art galleries are overflowing with creative masterpieces. The question of why hand-making still resonates with humans is simply because it’s part of our being. Without art or design the world would be a dreadfully dull place — a premise exemplified during the pandemic. When we all shut our doors to the outside world in 2020, many pivoted to the art of making as an escape or reconnection. Paint sets sold out. Artistic hobbies were trending. Online craft communities flourished. Some learnt how to knit, others learnt how to sew. Even Art Basel brought its exclusive art fair online. When the world fell out of control, humans turned to and embraced their instincts of making. As Canada-based King’s Art Gallery put it: “Art has emerged as our collective response to accept and overcome the fragilities that, in essence, make us human. Art survives and thrives through every disaster and warrants that our power of hope will never be exhausted.” The long-term impacts of design and making by hand are arguably immeasurable. When one looks towards areas of the world with a rich tactile history, it’s evident how influential it was back then and remains to be now. A county in North West England is an excellent example of this. Lancashire was once the weaving capital of the world due to the proliferation of the textile trade before and during the industrial revolution. It fuelled Britain into becoming the biggest international cotton producer, and Manchester was notably nicknamed “Cottonopolis”. In 1860 there were approximately 2650 cotton mills in Lancashire which employed a colossal 440,000 workers, producing half the globe’s supply of cotton. By the 20th century Lancashire mills were producing a staggering eight billion yards (or 7.3 billion metres) of cloth annually. Lancashire local Mavis Gilfillan (nee Worgan) spent 10 years of her early life working in a cotton mill in Leigh between 1957 and 1967, from the ripe age of 15 to 25. She reflects upon those years fondly and feels “proud” to be part of the county’s rich textile history. “Hard times but happy days with the mill girls. I worked shifts full time 7.30am to 5.30pm and then when I turned 16 worked shifts 6am to 2pm or 2pm to 10pm,” Mavis tells Travel. The now 82-year-old admits the wages weren’t great and she was paid about £2.70 a week at the beginning. “Most of the girls who worked there were my age. My mum worked in the mill, too. I started in the card room where the raw cotton came in and we had to learn how to lip read very quickly as it was noisy in there,” she says. By 1920, 29,000 weavers worked in the mills of Blackburn — more than in any other town in the world. “It is almost impossible to exaggerate the importance of cotton to Blackburn’s working population. Cotton accounted for the town’s dramatic physical growth,” writes the Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery. More than 100 years later Blackburn honours its own, and Britain’s, rich textile manufacturing history in an annual Festival of Making — a testament to the long-lasting impact and appreciation of hand-making. The program is filled with exhibitions, performances, talks, workshops and markets across the village as folk come together in a unique celebration of UK making and manufacturing.