Craftster

Craftster was an online community for crafting and do it yourself (DIY) enthusiasts.[1] Users post pictures of craft projects they have made and others comment and ask questions about how it was made.[2] The Craftster.org website closed on December 19, 2019.

Craftser
Type of site
Craft content / online community
FoundedMay 2000 (2000-05)
Headquarters
El Segundo, California
,
U.S.
URLhttp://www.craftster.org/
AdvertisingYes
Current statusclosed
Website closed on December 19, 2019

The site's tagline, "No tea cozies without irony", refers to the fact that many of the projects posted are irreverent, off-beat, humorous, clever, etc. While projects posted on the site tend to be made using traditional techniques such as knitting, crochet, cross stitch and sewing they often convey modern sentiments such as images of a favorite rock band, or motifs from a favorite 1980s video game.[3]

The site has over 190,000 registered members.[4] It has been written up in publications such as Time, The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Washington Post.[5] [6] [7] The membership is over 190,000, and readership is over 1,000,000 unique visitors per month and over 10,000,000-page views per month.[8]

The site has been called be one of the forces behind the renaissance of crafting among a new, young, contemporary demographic.[9]

History

The site was started on June 27, 2003,[10] by crafter and computer programmer Leah Kramer.[11][12][13] The term "Craftster" is a portmanteau of "crafty hipster" and a nod to pioneering peer-to-peer sites Napster and Friendster.[14] Prior to starting the site, Kramer was one of the organizers of the Boston Bazaar Bizarre, a yearly "punk rock craft fair", begun in 2001.[15]

References
  1. "Designer combines the nerdy with the crafty". NBC News.
  2. "Pretty Crafty". Time. March 1, 2005. Archived from the original on March 4, 2005.
  3. "It's Sew Easy To Make & Mend". The Daily Record.
  4. "Get crafty for holiday gifts". Associated Press.
  5. "Feeling Crafty? Inspiration Abounds on These 5 Sites". The Washington Post. February 5, 2009.
  6. "Crafster Founder Interview". The New York Times Magazine. July 2, 2006.
  7. "Sewing Hip". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. January 9, 2008.
  8. "Statistics Center". Craftster.org. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  9. "'Alternative' crafters bring new eye to crafts". Associated Press.
  10. "Craftster.org WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools". WHOIS. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
  11. "Interview with Craftser Founder". sfist. Archived from the original on January 22, 2010.
  12. "Calling all craftsters". The Boston Globe. July 26, 2006.
  13. "She and Kitsch Go Way Back". The Boston Globe. June 22, 2006.
  14. "About Craftster". Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  15. "Crafting gets attitude". The Boston Globe(December 7, 2005). Retrieved October 14, 2016.
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