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

by Melanie Falick

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781579657444
Publisher:	Artisan
Publication date:	10/29/2019
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	495,639
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Melanie Falick is an independent writer, editor, and creative consultant—and a lifelong maker. Formerly the publishing director of STC Craft/Melanie Falick Books, an imprint of Abrams, she is also the author of Knitting in America,Kids Knitting, and Weekend Knitting, as well as several other titles. Find her on Instagram @melaniefalick and at melaniefalick.com.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/02/2019

Falick (Knitting in America) profiles authors from her former Abrams imprint, STC Craft/Melanie Falick Books, as well as other artisans she admires, in a remarkable series of 30 vignettes that simultaneously comfort and stimulate. “Even though I didn’t need to make my own clothing... to stay alive,” she says of her own crafting pursuit, knitting, “I needed that bond to feel whole, competent and grounded.” Falick asks two basic questions, of herself and others: “Why do we make things by hand?” and “Why do we make them beautiful?” Among the artisans profiled are Natalie Chanin, who helped pioneer “slow fashion”; Charles “Chip” Dort, who cuts linoleum blocks to print fabrics; and the members of the African American Quilt Guild of Oakland, who use the medium to explore their lives and their California city’s history. Other subjects include weavers, spinners, dyers, and shoe, spoon, and furniture makers. Falick sprinkles choice quotes throughout: “For the next two hours,” says Elsa Mora to her paper-cutting class, “the only thing that matters is that we’re here and we’re going to do this... and do it well.” Falick’s treasury, sumptuously photographed, will appeal to anyone who admires the people dedicated to making the world around them more beautiful. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

[This] book is filled with stories of weavers, ceramicists, welders, woodworkers, quilters and more, with photos of the art, the crafts, homes and workspaces. Falick examines how making by hand contributes to a good life.” 
—Associated Press

“This book is a gem, and one that will inspire you to keep (or begin!) making and creating, a desire that’s inside each of us.”
—The House that Lars Built, November 2019 Book Club Pick

“A remarkable series of 30 vignettes that simultaneously comfort and stimulate. . . . Falick’s treasury, sumptuously photographed, will appeal to anyone who admires the people dedicated to making the world around them more beautiful.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
 
“Lovely and thoughtfully inspiring. . . . These very up-close-and-personal profiles, supplemented by elegant color photographs of people at work and their projects, capture the spirit of making and the dedication that’s behind the art. . . . In wholehearted agreement with the author: ‘When we get to the point where we aren’t able to make things with our hands and feel no mastery, we feel lost.’ ”
—Booklist, starred review
 

From the Publisher