Making a Life: Working by Hand and Discovering the Life You Are Meant to Live

by Melanie Falick

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019

Why do we make things by hand? And why do we make them beautiful? Led by the question of why working with our hands remains vital and valuable in the modern world, author and maker Melanie Falick went on a transformative, inspiring journey. Traveling across continents, she met quilters and potters, weavers and painters, metalsmiths, printmakers, woodworkers, and more, and uncovered truths that have been speaking to us for millennia yet feel urgently relevant today: We make in order to slow down. To connect with others. To express ideas and emotions, feel competent, create something tangible and long-lasting. And to feed the soul. In revealing stories and gorgeous original photographs, Making a Life captures all the joy of making and the power it has to give our lives authenticity and meaning.

Genres: Nonfiction, Crafts, Art, Knitting, Lifestyle, Design, Biography

313 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 29, 2019

About the author

Melanie Falick is the editorial director of STC Craft. She is a prolific and popular author of knitting books.

Reviews

[J.C. Pillard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book that I was much more excited about at the beginning then at the end. Author Melanie Falick profiles numerous makers throughout, but after about the halfway point I started getting very bored. I realized at that point that the book favors a certain type of maker and a certain type of aesthetic. It has already been noted by other reviewers that this book is sorely lacking makers of color, and that is a definite problem. But this book is also interested in the select few makers who are able to live comfortably off their art, which is certainly not the majority of makers. And as inspiring as it is to see a quilter or potter living in a beautiful, refurbished turn-of-the century cottage in the country, that aesthetic led to some irritation on my part. Where were the makers like me, who try and make whenever they can in their free time?

This book can be a beautiful inspiration, especially as you're exploring new crafts, but just go in knowing that it is neither a how-to book, nor is it terribly representative of the majority of crafters out there.

[Loracarol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Look, I'm willing to admit straight up that at least part of my problem with this book is jealousy.

This wasn't the case with all of the essays, to be clear, but there were a number of them where I could feel myself channeling Haruhi Fujioka:



This just didn't feel like a book on crafting for most of the population; this is a book on crafts for people who get 20 acres of land as a gift from their MIL, for people who can afford to just straight up purchase a French château on 22 acres, and the people who can afford to go there for a holiday. For the people who used to big a Big Deal in Apple and can afford to take a year off of work.

Again, this isn't true about everyone in the book! The section on the African American Quilt Guild of Oakland was really cool, and those quilts are lovely; I want the elephant quilt so bad. ;_;

I just had a really hard time connecting with the book as a whole.

Also, and maybe I'm being oversensitive here, but the chapters about white Americans "living off the land" and "discovering" natural dyes/the bounty of nature had me raising an eyebrow. There's a lot of that, it feels like, and yet the only acknowledgement that (1) Indigenous people exist and (2) probably know a bit about natural dyes before the subject of the book did, is a white lady talking about how a beach she likes walking along has meaning to the local Makah tribe.

I don't want to call this A White Book because I don't want to erase the POC artists that were included, but this felt Very White in a way that I, even as a white person, noticed.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading about these different makers, their journeys and thoughts in a life of making things. But I'd be remiss to not say that I was a bit disappointed in who wasn't included. Many of the stories noted a history or legacy of making or craft through a family or a lineage of apprenticeship and I kept thinking "Where are the beaders? The herbalists? The leatherworkers?" I know there are only so many pages and stories but I wish there had been at least one Native American maker included in the pages and other Indigenous makers from around the world.
I'd love for there to be a place to showcase more stories: a website, an app, perhaps?

That said, the stories are beautifully told with gorgeous photos and are ripe with inspiration. If you aren't compelled to start a new craft or five after this, I recommend reading it again!

[Woollythinker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so disappointed in this book. These artists may be admirable and enviable, but their stories as here presented are not inspiring to me. I had hoped to get a sense (however nebulous) that I too could do this; instead I kept finding myself thinking, nice for them that they had these contacts, these opportunities, these resources. There's a huge amount of unacknowledged privilege here. Anyone looking for true inspiration should rather check out In The Company of Women, which does far better on two fronts – diversity, and truly meaty, thought-provoking insights into running a creative business and living your values.

[AcademicEditor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since the book is subtitled, "Working by Hand and Discovering the Life You Are Meant to Live," I was expecting either some motivational self-help stuff about being more creative, or some how-to ideas, or better yet, both, but I got neither.

If this were a series of magazine articles featuring interviews with makers, I would read that series. But as a standalone collection, it feels same-y in all the wrong ways. Not enough diversity among the makers themselves, as others have noted, and also not with the things they make--many of them have a similar aesthetic. The inclusion of Natalie Chanin bumped it up one star for me, though.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC.

[Alana West · Rating 5 out of 5]

In times of uncertainty turn to the artists, makers, and thinkers (and scientists although they are not found in this book). I really needed this book right now. Creativity to help stay productive while we are stuck inside. Thanks Melanie Falick for chronicling such a wide swath of creatives.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 300+ page book devoted to making things by hand.....what's not to like??

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This large book will appeal to a certain type of reader but not to all. I assumed it was a bit of a how-to book and it is not. You do not learn how the artisans do their crafts or how they managed to make a living doing them. It is sort of a coffee table book in that it is packed with photos of the artists and crafters who are featured, along with their homes and their work, and then lots of text about what it all means to them.

I have to agree with the reviewer who noted the stark absence of diversity in these profiles. The first biography of a woman of color didn't appear until well over a hundred pages in, and there were only a handful for the rest of the book. Male artisans are also generally absent until towards the very end of the book.

I admit to only skimming the book since it is so long and so packed with the author's and the artisans' thoughts. I looked through every page but didn't read all the text, so am not putting any read date or counting it as a book read as much as a book browsed.

Each profile includes a biography of the artisan and a sort of interview, and lots of waxing poetic about modern times, the makers' journeys, etc. The photography is beautiful and there is a lot of it. This will make good reading for those who relate to these artisans or to choosing this kind of slow and purposeful life.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

[Anne Littlebird · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book as I did with her Knitting in America. It is about inspiration and philosophy behind making and doing it by hand. it speaks to me about why I make things and why I am embracing the slow clothing idea. I used to mnake everything I wore and then got out of it for a variety of reasons. Now it's about doing it for me and if I do purchase something it must be from people who feel the same way. Clothing and household good made to last the years not a season.

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! The only reason it doesn't have 5 stars is because I still wish it did more to break outside of the largely white, middle to upper middle class creative community in the US. The author does acknowledge her focus on the US, but even within the US, the creative among us are represented by a broader palette than is included in this book. Otherwise, and excellent retreat during the tumultuous months of 2020.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous book exploring how creative makers have found ways to create the lives they want to live. I found inspiration from many of these people, and a much-needed escape in ‘traveling’ throughout the US and Europe as the author spent time with each maker.

[Alissa Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and really wanted to make as I was reading it. I actually began knitting socks for the first time as a result. So it definitely inspired me with all the different skills and makers' stories highlighted. The author and subjects really made me think about how as humans a lot of us have lost touch with making and using our hands, and that is a missing piece.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grabbed this off the library shelf thinking it was a home decor book, which it wasn't, but that's fine, it was still a topic I'm interested in and I was surprised at myself that I actually read it from cover to cover instead of just flipping through and looking at the photographs. Overall it was pretty inspiring, lots of beautiful photography and some interesting stories and personalities. I was pleasantly surprised to see Lotta Anderson, Claire Wellesley-Smith, and my old coworker Maura Ambrose. There were several references to the concept of your hands themselves becoming more adept and dexterous through making by hand, which was not something I'd thought about before, that your hands are made of muscles that can become stronger and that you can still develop greater fine motor skills as an adult.

There was a quote that I particularly liked from a maker who started a sort of community collective in (I believe it was) North Carolina: "'In our culture, all our limbs have been cut off because we don't have a relationship to each other that is based in collective power,' Jessica begins. 'What is considered a high-class way of me relating to you is to ask you how you are doing. You tell me, I say that sounds great or so hard. We drink our tea. I ask if you have a good therapist. We don't have a relationship based on doing. I don't come over and work in your garden with you. We don't actually figure out how to build a structure so that when your kid comes home from school, he or she has a place to be. We're not actively engaged in each other's lives.'"
This was such an eye-opening point to me, that we are really not completely engaged with our family and friends because most of our communication and relationships are verbal, not action-oriented. You can only get so close by simply getting together and talking, but when you're doing something more engaging to truly take part in another person's life, that's when the magic happens. It made me feel like I shouldn't be so reluctant offer or ask for help because that's really how friendships are taken to the next level.

The downside to this book is, as others have mentioned, the privileged "let them eat cake" mentality. I thought I was sitting down to read about normal people who went from nothing to making beautiful things through hard work and perseverance, and how you can do that too. The author frames the stories that way, but as you read a lot of it is, "this one decided to leave their job as a stylist for Martha Stewart Living to pursue their passion for pottery" or "this one's parents were architects" or "she works with her mother, who is a potter" or "this one wanted to learn how to knit so she flew across country to enroll in the prestigious Blah Blah School of Crafts and Folk Arts." And then it all seemed to be like, "This guy decided to carve a linoleum block stamp to make a pillow. Fast forward three months and he has 50k Instagram followers and is selling his products at Barney's New York." How does that happen? And None of these people came from humble blue collar beginnings where their parents were factory workers or truck drivers. Almost all of them went to art school in the first place. One story particularly irked me, about this guy who grew up in England and went to these fancy prep schools with the idea that he'd go to Oxford or something, but he decided to give it up and "go bumming around Australia for a year" then magically wound up making t-shirts that he sold to high end boutiques. The author and he speak with such disdain about his traditional schooling being pointless, and all I could think was how hard his parents probably worked to put him through those prep schools and he basically just unapolagetically threw it out the window, and luckily fell ass-backwards into this tshirt company (that he then gave up to do woodworking or whatever). Other people bragged about leaving college with like one class left before graduating. If that's not privilege, I don't know what is. Then toward the end it all just devolved into people who were making stuff with their hands and then the business grew and now they make a shit ton of money and have weekend houses in the country but really just spend their time working on spreadsheets and taking phone calls.

It further proves my theory of a "creative caste system." If you didn't grow up in an upper-middle class family, preferably with some sort of background in the creative arts, you're simply not going to have this type of success. You don't have the emotional and financial support of your family saying, "Sure, go ahead, be a quilter for a living," and you probably don't have a bunch of friends that are also doing this stuff. For the most part I think creatives and non-creatives stay in their lane as dictated by their families and upbringings. Just my two-cents.

[Sarah Burns · Rating 2 out of 5]

Posed an interesting question in the beginning a couple of times about why we want to make things, but after the first 10 pages devolved into magazine profiles of white women who are able to support themselves on their craft. There’s no room for the hobbyists or the amateurs. Or for black and indigenous people, who are surely central to the discussion of craft and especially craft as culture and identity. The omission of anyone non white is glaring.

[Serenity · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, that was a bit rough. It took me forever to finally finish that book. I felt after 100 pages or so it was very repetitive and I was reading the same thing over and over again. I really had to push through in order to finish it.

[Sherry A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short profiles of present day makers, most of whom seem to be friends of the author, and photos of their work. Basically a coffee table book.

[Shinjini · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting premise marred by the lack of diversity and representation.

[Reading · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was written for a pale privileged audience. It was a struggle to get through.

Also: Publishers Weekly, THIS was a “best book of 2019”???????

[Paul Sutter]

In life, you must follow your dreams, doing things according to your comfort level. In the book, MAKING A LIFE, Melanie Falick has profiled people from all walks of life, who decided to live life according to their own rules.
This meant they got into professions often challenging, but they were not deterred from them. Falick wrote previously about knitting. Here, she wanted to see how people used their hands to accomplish other tasks, and see what they created from their visions.
There were no big factories or mass manufacturing, with people using their own talents to make items to withstand the test of time.
The first person profiled is Jessica Green, who took on the challenge of weaving. She even teaches classes to her, so she can create lots of luxurious items for the bedroom and around the house. In many ways it helps one keep in touch with their inner psyche, as people are brought together for a common cause.
There are thirty people profiled in the book, and the book is divided into five sections. They are: Remembering, Slowing down, Joining hands, Making a home, and Finding a voice. Falick went on this journey to showcase such talent and basically address two questions. They were, “Why do we make things by hand?” and “Why do we make them beautiful?”
She got all her answers in the form of furniture makers, quilt makers, clothing de-signers, shoe designers, basket makers, purse makers, and more. The creative nature of all is put on display, making this book a powerful and moving experience.

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book for Jolabokaflod last December and immediately dove into it. But then I realized it's a book to be savored, so I decided to read just one profile per day. There are 30 profiles and obviously I missed some days along the way, but I am so glad I slowed down. What a treat to read about so many kinds of makers (many kinds in terms of their media) and to drink in Melanie Falick's gorgeous photographs.

The collection is being critiqued for not including a more diverse and representative group of makers, which is completely on point. It sounds like the profiled makers are all among Falick's friends, or at least in her network.

One other odd thing: the subtitle of the book is "Working by Hand and Discovering the Life You Are Meant to Live." I didn't think "working by hand" would be so literal - almost all of these makers have made a business from their creative endeavors, some so successfully that they don't actually do much handwork anymore but instead focus on finances and management. I thought it might include more people who work by hand to feed their souls, not to put food on the table.

[Elsabe Retief · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like to use your hands - you need to read this book. It supplies all the justification some might still need, though I read it mostly for the confirmation that I am definitely not alone. Living in an adopted country ( did I adopt the country or did the country adopt me..? I will have to think that over a bit!) I find the culture hard to adapt to. Old and well worn makes me happy while shiny and new is the trend here.
This book is so much more than the ‘life in making’ stories of at least 30 prolific makers! It is an list of amazing things to make, an inspiration to start now, a complete philosophy of a making life, a dictionary of the language of making and best of all a beautiful beautiful book.
Easy and sincere writing style with not a pretentious sentence in sight, maybe a touch of namedropping here and there, but if I knew these people personally, I might have been a name dropper too. Photography outstanding and I appreciate the quality of the paper and the cover tremendously.
This book on my shelf and often on the bedside table of visitors is a joy.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute treasure of a book that required me to give it a big hug several times during my reading of it. I found an international group of people who think, dream, imagine and embrace a life devoted to making - just like me! Falick writes in a soothing and comforting tone discussing her interviews and encounters with interesting and accomplished makers and artists around the world. This book encouraged me to fully embrace the creating that uplifts my soul and not feel guilty about spending a life this way. I discovered a big, successful and happy community living "slowly" and shunning being busy - going here or there, or buying this or that. I loved how Falick explored so many different applications for craft; from customising clothes and making tactile wall art to creating homewares and cute jewellery. Forget the joy of cooking or other things(?#!) the joy of MAKING is me! Thank you Melanie Falick.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, showcasing a bunch of artisans who can make a living with their craft. Best of all is focusing on folks who have found their passion. After a while though it gets to be a sameness. Sameness of mostly white people. Mostly women. Sameness of people who don't have to do something more lucrative to be able to live and work in this modern world. I do envy the ones who can.
More space could have been given to the text to allow it to be in a larger font to be readable by more people.
Chapters are organized into groups around a theme: Remembering, Slowing down, Joining hands, Making a home, Finding a voice, Saying thank you.
I enjoyed reading the copy I got from the library. This is not a book I want to own.

[Maya]

I like reading about how people became and are artists. I am drawn to making, too. Some of the profiles in here were more inspiring than others… I struggle to relate to the folks who clearly came from the Ivy League and can afford to develop their artistry in a way most people can’t. Thankfully this book showcases a relative variety of backgrounds. The subhead “working by hand and discovering the life you are meant to live” is over promising, I think—this is definitely not self-helpy, as that suggests. Still, it makes you think, and the photography is lovely to look at

[Audrey]

some v cool people profiled in this. overall I was a bit uncomfortable about a certain unreflective veneration of a “simpler” past in which people worked with their hands, esp. bc a good number of the craftspeople traced inspiration back to colonist/homesteading/pioneer ancestors. I could have done with a bit more diversity/variety in the people profiled too. I’ll probably pick up This Long Thread soon and I expect I’ll vibe with that a bit more politically. still, this is a beautiful book with a generous amount of photography and definitely made me itch to try several of the featured crafts.

[:: susan :: · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging book filled with the lives of makers and their stories. I read this during the Covid19 pandemic and it allowed me a respite from the worldly woes of the day. I allowed myself just a chapter or two a day which permitted me to ruminate over what I had read and thus lengthen the reading experience. I take heart in knowing that all these makers are out there continuing to use their hands to make a life.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being an artist/crafter is often lonely. Your friends don’t understand why you want to make things when you could more easily buy them. Melanie Falick has assembled a cast of what I lovingly call my tribe, the makers. It is glorious to read about their lives, discover new creators and revisit old friends. The only bone I have to pick with her is that there is no index...I want to look up all the internet sites.....
If you like to “make” you will love this book.

[PattiCav · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a fun book this must have been to write--so many field trips and so much travel! After reading several months worth of books that were kind of heavy in comparison, I appreciated the joy and lightness of this book as well as so many photos. I have to admit that I skimmed through a lot of the text.

[Leah Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautiful photos and insights from artists and their spaces. The stories all started to have a predictable pace and format for me, but overall, wonderful spotlights on artists that work with their hands. the Why for everyone is more or less the same to me, it makes us happy to work with our hands. We need the outlet to feel alive.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caught my eye at the library- thought I would just skim through for inspiration but it ended up catching my attention from the very beginning pages and I read every word. Now adding to my list of books to own a copy of - my five star reviews mean I would own this book, I would recommend it &/or gift it to others, & I would like to read it again!