Making e-Textile Things: A Craft-Based Approach for Building Resilience in the Age of Pandemic and Eco-Anxiety

Abstract

Abstract Funded by the University of Wollongong, Ecomakers project conducted e-textiles workshops at makerspaces with a focus on ecologically sustainable materials and processes. This paper reflects on how the COVID-19 experience reframed our environmentally-oriented workshops to connect mental health and well-being with eco-living. The research aims to find out how making e-textiles forms and a craft-based approach can affect participants’ sense of agency in times of the pandemic and climate crisis. In response to our government’s call to engage with mindfulness to alleviate anxieties induced by the pandemic, we expanded our project to emphasize how slow textile techniques including needle-felting, crochet, and sewing are conducive to contemplative practices. In delivering workshops in-person and online, we discovered how well-being can be fostered through environmental knowledge sharing and interactions in the making process, which lead to a sense of social connectedness. This article discusses the methodological, face-to-face, and online features of the workshops and findings based on observations and survey results. We conclude on how combining the concepts of making things, material thinking, and crafting enhances resilience in the face of the global pandemic and the climate emergency.