Handicrafts is a word Singaporeans associate with school, papier mache and potato printing.
But around the world, a community of people calling themselves crafters have sprung up, making everything from handsewn clothes to handmade furniture.
New American magazines such as Craft and Make and websites such as craftster.org and etsy.com are popularising fresh, youthful takes on age-old pursuits such as knitting and wood-working.
Similarly, in Singapore, there has been a rise in crafting culture and Singapore shoppers are also turning away from the uniformity of mass-produced apparel, accessories and home items and looking to handcrafted goods to stand out from the crowd.
Local retailer inQbox has grown from one shop in 2004 to three, thanks in part to the interest of both crafters and their customers, says store founder Ms Danas Njoto, 31. Along with imported gift items, each store carries crafts from 30 to 40 Singapore artists and designers. They produce everything from hand-painted T-shirts and hand-decorated shoes to handmade jewellery.
Ms Shannon Ong, 30, organiser of the red dot design museum's Maad (Market of Artists and Designers) Fair, says as buyers get more affluent, their concerns change: 'Now that people can afford expensive things, their concern is how to stand out in a crowd.'
Teacher Sarina Omar Bakri, 33, is one such consumer. She turned to a local crafter after she failed to find baby booties she liked. The result was a personalised pair that no one else had.
At $22 a set, they are slightly more expensive than the ready-made ones, but they boast better workmanship and durability than any mass-produced pair, she says.
She also buys custom-designed jewellery from other crafters and recently paid $70 for a crystal necklace from a crafter. 'It makes me happy to wear something no one else has. People ask if I bought it overseas,' she says, smiling.
This demand from consumers has inspired crafters to step up. There are Singaporean crafters who give up well-paying jobs to pursue the dream of making a living doing the craft they love.
Ms Cindy Leong, 26, found the jewellery she makes in her Upper Bukit Timah condominium selling so well on American craft marketplace etsy.com that she went full-time and registered it as a business in June last year.
Today, she has over 120 different pieces on sale on etsy and on her own website, starrydesigns.com. The graduate in marketing from the Singapore Management University says her earnings today are on par with a salary from a marketing job.
She says she is seeing more Singaporeans crafting professionally too: 'There were only a few of us two years ago, but on etsy today, you see about 100 Singapore-based sellers.'
They sell handcrafted items such as dolls, bags, pouches and custom stickers.
Brick and mortar shops too are experiencing a surge in craft products. red dot design museum's Maad Fair, held on the first weekend of every month, grows at the rate of four new crafters at each event, says Ms Ong. There were 40 vendors at the event held in August.
Over at The Shop, the retail outlet at The Arts House specialising in Singapore-made items, there are 66 artists on its contact list, a big jump from 20 when the outlet started in January last year.
For some crafters, the business can be quite rewarding.
Since 2006, Mr Paul Tan, 40, known as Paul T to his friends, has been customising products - sports shoes, radios and even doggy bowls and watchbands - after he quit his job as regional head of marketing for a multinational company.
He formed the venture Itchyhandz with business partner, Lasalle-trained Singaporean Bernie Broughton, 40, who also quit his job as art director to craft full-time.
Together, they have worked on one- of-a-kind hand-painted designs for over 200 pairs of adidas shoes. Most are personalised designs tailored to the buyer's wants.
Orders have included football club designs or images of favourite superheroes. Customers pay upwards of $750 per pair, which includes the original cost of the shoes.
'They are not cheap,' he says, 'that's because each pair takes about 15 hours to make.'
They also sell radios with personalised paintjobs, using Model One radios made by US maker Tivoli. The real wood casing provides a flat surface for art. They have sold 15 so far at $1,000 each. If customers already own a radio, Itchyhandz can customise it for $700.
They get most of their business through the media, word of mouth and the Internet.
Ms Betsy Toh, 30, gave up teaching fine arts in a secondary school to become a full-time crafter. She also teaches knitting and crocheting. Since December 2006, she has run Knotty Bicsie, a teaching and crafts studio based in the Admiralty Road flat she shares with her husband, and a web store, KnottyBicsie.com.sg
She admits that her income is unpredictable: 'Sales every month varies from hundreds of dollars during bad times, to thousands during good months. But overall, it is still good enough for me. I'm comfortable.'
And there are also more real-world options for crafters who want to sell and interact with customers. They can use a service such as the one inQbox provides. For $180 a month and up, they can rent a box in one of their three local shops, located at Raffles City, Suntec City and Parkway Parade.
The boxes allow part-time crafters to get their feet wet in business without the paperwork, says founder Ms Njoto. The shop also counsels crafters on 'retailability' - the factors which set apart an item a crafter gives away and one he can sell, says Ms Njoto.
And crafters are slowly learning to turn their one-time hobbies into a viable business.
Part-time crafter Dorothy Choon, 50, makes dolls which are sold at The Shop in The Arts House, the Esplanade gift shop and the Barang Barang store at Central Mall, as well as through Singpost.
Fans like her one-of-a-kind $150 dolls, which are lanky and poseable, with serene faces and handmade outfits tailored to each doll's persona.
The housewife, who started making dolls six years ago after glancing through a magazine, says the key difference between a hobbyist and a person with market-ready products is uniqueness.
She says: 'It is definitely worth developing my own style. Since the day I first commercialised my dolls, sales have been slow but steady.'
This article was first published in The Straits Times on September 7, 2008.
