We live in an era of mass-manufactured ‘authenticity’. Our pursuit of individuality and creative expression is determined by social media algorithms that reward conformity. To set ourselves apart, we follow trends and accumulate products faster than we give meaning to them.
To reclaim personal identity, I propose personalisation through craft. Instead of buying things to set ourselves apart, we should make things.
In the book Was It Something I Wore, South African jewellery designer Marlene de Beer presents the idea of craft as a form of micro-resistance. She uses her creative practice to both participate in and step outside of the social scripts dictated by her family, community, and culture.
Marlene argues that clothing and jewellery are to individuals what branding and PR are to corporations: a way to convey complex, coded layers of meaning. And when the wearer is also the maker, that communication becomes even more powerful – personalised, intentional, and full of nuance. Meaning and effect are constructed based on personal experience.
Khensani Mohlatlole is a writer and fibre artist
I’m not saying we should make our clothes and jewellery, or abandon trends entirely. I’m saying we should reclaim identity through creative expression. Needlecrafts – sewing, beading, embroidery, crochet, knitting, etc.– offer an accessible return to true authenticity and sincerity.
Take the deeply personalised craftsmanship of Zulu beadwork. In Speaking With Beads: Zulu Arts in Southern Africa, sociologist Eleanor Preston-Whyte explains how Zulu women have historically used beadwork as a form of nonverbal communication. They express specific messages through pattern, material, and colour.
Even though these women operate within inherited frameworks, skills passed down generationally, there are no universal meanings. Every piece is distinct. Each maker’s work is shaped by her home region, innovations or personal twists on traditional techniques, and may include secret messages decipherable only by family, friends, or lovers.
Even with the commodification of Zulu beadwork, its meaning hasn’t been diluted. Zulu women can produce ‘meaningless’ decorative work for sale, steeped in cultural forms, and maintain their communicative practices of speaking with beads.
This balance—appeasing external forces while satisfying internal needs—is why I believe craft functions as micro-resistance. There’s an ever-expanding universe of crafts that can make life worth living.
People can resist materialistic, consumerist culture by choosing creative practices. You can honour your heritage, background, or political beliefs in deeply fulfilling ways. You can take power away from gatekeepers and arbiters of culture. You can empower yourself through personal expression and the ability to make things for yourself instead of being told what to want.
You can find community. You can build care into things. You can create meaning.
- Feature image of Khensani Mohlatlole provided
