my name is ana, and no i don’t have an etsy store and no i’m not trying to sell you anything! :-)

i am the writer behind i made it so, a creative blog which is just as much about how i make things as it is about the creative process and finding inspiration. as for my affliction with lower-case when typing, well you can read about that here. and while i love creating and sharing, the story behind what we do and why we do it is where my fascination often lies.

so when sarah and jenn asked me to write a post for canadian+handmade, i was more than happy to do so. i love supporting canadian, and i love supporting handmade. my mind started mulling over those words: canadian. handmade. what makes something distinctly canadian? what is behind the handmade tradition? what gives a handmade item its true worth?

there is a unique quality to handmade items, without a doubt. and often it is a reflection of the region in which the artist or craftsperson resides. it’s no secret that we’re influenced by our environment, not only by the abstract qualities and moods our surroundings provide, but also by the raw materials available to us for our creations.

one of my favourite things to do while traveling is to shop in the artisan markets. the arid inspiration behind the pottery found in tlaquepaque; the gauntlet of vendors offering their handcarved wares on the beaches in haiti; the sensory delight (and often sensory overload) of middle eastern markets. each has a distinct flavour unique to the location.

if you’re going anywhere in the world, and you ask what you can bring back for me? my answer, more often than not, is some sort of textile. saris from india, wool from iceland, tangible bits of handmade tradition. the weaving of fabric on a mexican loom is a world apart from the weaving on a turkish loom. i want to see and feel and sense those qualities which make each little corner of this world so unique.

but what about canada? we are a multicultural nation, with a rich history of immigration dating back to when our first foreign inhabitants arrived. any camping trip in the thick of a northern ontario summer immediately makes me appreciate what the earliest settlers must have endured. and i’m not just talking about the mosquitos and black flies!

imagine walking onto your plot of land, staring at a vast, thick forest growing out from the rocky earth. what a monumental task lies ahead of you! sawing down trees to build your home may be your first course of action for surviving this beautiful and harsh land. then growing and harvesting what the land (sometimes reluctantly) can yield. in many ways, this country was handmade, from the ground up. out of necessity.

creating candles by hand to add a few more working hours to those short winter days, to mend, to sew, to knit by candlelight. preserving fruits and vegetables was not the whimsical activity it is today, if the cute jars and labels found in stores are any indication. preservation was a matter of, well, preservation! you either had enough food to survive the long winter, or you didn’t. and if it was the latter, you’d better hope for a neighbour with a well-stocked pantry and a generous heart. in the earliest days, however, neighbours would have been hard to come by…

it’s easy to romanticize the past, and arguably, it was a simpler time. but it must have been a very hard and labour intensive life. if you’re interested in learning more about the experiences of some early settlers in canada, particularly from the female perspective, i’d highly recommend reading sisters in the wilderness by charlotte grey. it’s a biography about susanna moodie and catherine parr traill, pioneers (who kept excellent journal entries) of the canadian backwoods. a fascinating read.

going even further back in time, the earliest inhabitants of this land were incredibly industrious and artful in their creations. the indigenous peoples used artwork as a means of storytelling. it is so interesting to learn the meaning behind their crafts, how their creations were used to reinforce traditions and teach history through the generations. i recently made dreamcatchers with the kids, and it was a great way to talk about indigenous crafts and their historical significance in this country.

handcrafting today is viewed as a luxury, and it’s certainly no wonder with giant box stores filled with perfectly packaged products dedicated to a multitude of crafts. handmaking items is often seen as a hobby, something people do in their spare time. i’ve certainly been accused of having “too much time” when i create something by hand, something which could easily have been purchased at the store with less money and less time invested. but when you think back to a time when your survival depended on your creativity, you soon realize the significance of being able to tap into our most creative resources to invent, problem solve and progress.

and with progress has come abundance. with mass media, mass marketing and mass production, it’s easy to forget the worth of something uniquely handmade. when you hold something made by hand, there is a tradition behind it, a quiet story for those willing to listen. years of history, infused with the artist’s own creativity to bring about something truly unique.

if you’re like me, that handmade item you’re holding will suddenly feel infinitely more unique. and infinitely worth that little extra you often pay for handmade.