{"id":888424,"date":"2026-09-11T18:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T18:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/888424\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T18:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T18:10:15","slug":"what-the-backlash-to-the-industrial-revolution-can-teach-us-about-handcrafts-in-the-age-of-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/888424\/","title":{"rendered":"What the backlash to the Industrial Revolution can teach us about handcrafts in the age of AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artificial intelligence (AI) isn\u2019t yet causing<\/a> widespread job losses in Australia. But with some high-profile business leaders still predicting<\/a> a looming unemployment \u201ccrisis\u201d it\u2019s little wonder many people fear<\/a> AI is coming for their job. <\/p>\n

Anxiety about automation dates back to the early days of the industrial revolution<\/a>. We know with the benefit of hindsight that the machinery of mass production ultimately did upend the lives of many workers and transform the world.<\/p>\n

Yet today, centuries later, people haven\u2019t stopped making things by hand; far from it. In much of the world, handicrafts are booming<\/a>. From quilting and knitting<\/a> to pottery and wood carving<\/a>, many old skills are enjoying something of a resurgence among a new generation.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s behind the enduring appeal of making something by hand? And can looking to the past teach us anything about this present moment?<\/p>\n

The backlash to industrial abundance<\/p>\n

Edmund Cartwright, an English clergyman and inventor, first patented<\/a> an early version of the power loom in 1785. It took a few decades of refinement to develop this invention into a reliable machine, but its adoption ultimately redefined the textiles industry.<\/p>\n

As the industrial revolution rolled on, a group of labour activists we now know as the \u201cLuddites<\/a>\u201d protested the working conditions and job losses that resulted. <\/p>\n

Today, the term is used to describe people generally hostile to new technologies, but this contemporary usage misses the fact that they did have a point: industrialisation did have a devastating impact on many workers and their communities. <\/p>\n

However, responses to the industrial revolution were not only political and economic. They were also cultural and aesthetic<\/a>, and in some cases, a rejection of the cheapness of industrial abundance. <\/p>\n

Across Europe and beyond, the Arts and Crafts Movement of the late 19th and early 20th century looked to craft practices, handmaking, and nature as stylistic inspiration for this most Victorian of radical politics. <\/p>\n

As William Morris, designer, writer, activist and manufacturer famously stated at the time: <\/p>\n

Have nothing in your house you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. <\/p>\n

An enduring appeal<\/p>\n

Crafts are as popular as ever. According to recently released results from Creative Australia\u2019s sixth National Arts Participation Survey<\/a>, an estimated nine million Australians participate in creating some form of art or craft. Among these, visual arts and craft are the most common.<\/p>\n

For many people, craft is more than a hobby. My previous research<\/a> has shown that at the time of the last Australian census, 116,538 people were employed in jobs requiring craft skills, or 1.1% of the total workforce. <\/p>\n

This included roles ranging from stonemasonry to industrial ceramics, scientific instrument making to textile production and fashion.<\/p>\n

What about the cost?<\/p>\n

Crafting today can be an expensive business. Hand spun, rare breed, naturally dyed wools can be knitted on handmade needles. <\/p>\n

But you can also still pick up a pair of needles cheaply at your local op shop and some old wool from someone\u2019s no-longer-needed stash.<\/p>\n

However despite this growth in interest, Australia\u2019s arts and craft retail sector<\/a> is facing pressure from the shift to online sales. <\/p>\n

In June, craft supplies and fabric supplier Lincraft announced it would be closing all physical Lincraft stores<\/a> in Australia. <\/p>\n

While some large retailers may be under pressure, more local, specialist and high-quality shops are opening to fill the demand for making materials driven by interest and recreation, not need or frugality. <\/p>\n

Notably, across its 20 years of existence, craft supply stores have featured among Etsy\u2019s most successful shops<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is also growing demand for haberdashery, an over $A550 million sector<\/a>, as new generations motivated by sustainability repair and alter existing garments rather than buy new ones.<\/p>\n

Why analogue is so appealing<\/p>\n

But more recently and often as part of wider trends driven by young people to make space to slow life down, avoid \u201cdoomscrolling<\/a>\u201d and perhaps get offline together<\/a>, there is growing interest in the making side of craft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Beside the sociality and sense of achievement this can offer, having the skills to repair items or re-use existing materials resonates with a commitment to living more sustainably. <\/p>\n

In this way, craft can mark a re-calibration of our relationship to the material world<\/a> grounded in care, doing things well, and at a human not industrial scale. <\/p>\n

For some, too, crafting offers a way to connect with family across generations as they carry on a craft practice learned from parents or grandparents, linking with family memory and bringing this into the present (and hopefully, the future). <\/p>\n

The time, labour and skill that goes into making rather than just buying a gift to give to another elevates that present to a whole new level of meaning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A fulfilling sense of friction<\/p>\n

Developing skills to turn materials into useful items has throughout history been a motivating human force. A key driver behind craft\u2019s enduring appeal is precisely the friction of doing it \u201cthe old way\u201d. <\/p>\n

In the face of AI disruption, it is notable that creative manual work is seen as relatively safe from being replaced, requiring imagination and fine motor skills that AI can\u2019t replicate<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Today, the sense of tangible achievement that comes from this offers many people, including growing numbers of younger people, a sense of control and agency in a world that often feels out of control, echoing again the words<\/a> of William Morris: <\/p>\n

A good way to rid one\u2019s self of a sense of discomfort is to do something.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artificial intelligence (AI) isn\u2019t yet causing widespread job losses in Australia. But with some high-profile business leaders still…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-888424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}