Arzu Tahsin – författare

Integrating mindfulness, neuroscience, positive psychology, and creativity research, Craftfulness offers a thought-provoking and surprising reconsideration of craft, and how making things with our hands can connect us to our deepest selves and improve our well-being and overall happiness.

We should get this out of the way: Craftfulness is not a crafting book. Rather, it is an investigation of the wisdom generations of men and women know to be true: making things is a vital means of self-expression, self-realization, and self-help that sparks the mind, touches the soul, and rejuvenates the spirit.

Process, not product, is the soul of craft practice. Whether you knit, crochet, sculpt, weave, quilt, tat, draw, or bind books, working toward small, attainable goals gives us a sense of purpose, accomplishment, and control that is proven to positively impact our mental health and happiness.

In Craftfulness, Rosemary Davidson and Arzu Tahsin offer a brilliantly reasoned argument in favor of craft and its positive impact on our mental well-being. Weaving personal experiences with the latest science on mindfulness, happiness, and creativity, they illuminate how craft practice reintroduces balance into our lives and habits by cultivating creativity, promoting focus, creating a safe environment for failure, and encouraging us to make peace with imperfection.

Like Matthew B. Crawford’s Shop Class as Soulcraft, Ken Robinson’s Out of Our Minds, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow, Craftfulness helps us to see our world in a new way, offering opportunities to disconnect and pay attention to ourselves.

''Making things can mend your mind'' - Telegraph''Chicken soup for the crafter''s soul'' - Publisher''s Weekly_______What is that unique feeling that goes hand-in-hand with making something from scratch? Do you ever wonder where the time goes when you''re lost in drawing or working with clay? Are you happiest when you''re sewing or knitting?Craft enthusiasts are no doubt already aware of the joys of making and the frustration when you must put aside your project and go back to your day job or to less enticing tasks around the house. But there is more to crafting than the simple enjoyment of a creative hobby.Drawing on the first-hand accounts from everyday crafters, Craftfulness considers the vital well-being effects to be gained from the simple expression of your creativity, and investigates the soul-cleansing and stress-relieving benefits of making things by hand. An all-you-need-to-know friendly guide to inspire you to give making a go, Craftfulness:- explores the science of creativity and the authors'' down-to-earth craft ethos, as well as why everyone should develop a craft habit; - suggests ways to make time in a hectic life for everyday creative work- considers how we can try to overcome self-criticism and lack of confidence- features simple but immensely satisfying craft projects to still the mind and soothe the soul, complete with beautifully illustrated step-by-step instructionsTo read Craftfulness is the first step on the path to leading a happier, healthier, more satisfying and fulfilling life.