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The idea of strength in numbers isn't new, but give it a new name and attach it to a new groove and you've got a hit concept on your hands - as a group of hip Texan crafters discovered when they joined forces to help each other and promote new craft. They called themselves the Austin Craft Mafia and the concept took off. There are now dozens of craft mafias across the world. Even Hollywood seems to have jumped on the gangland wagon, calling a TV show about four high-flying New York businesswomen Cashmere Mafia.
It all began in 2005 when entrepreneurial embroidery artist Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching contacted Tina Lockwood of Sparkle Craft for some business advice. Then Jennifer Perkins of Naughty Secretary Club joined the discussion. Straightaway, the three women saw the potential for greater success with their fledgling online businesses by pooling their talents rather than operating independently of each other. They began meeting on a regular basis and sharing advertising space they couldn't afford as individual businesses. More and more women with similar businesses were invited to their meetings, and the co-operative business project known as the Austin Craft Mafia [ACM] was born.
"We were getting together and brainstorming and sharing resources and then we thought we could pool our money for advertising, so we did," says Jenny Hart in an interview with Living Creatively.
"We kept meeting other small business designers and we would invite them along, and so it grew. Tina said, 'let's make this official and call it the Austin Craft Mafia.' There was tremendous interest in the name - so many groups of crafters asked to use it, and it took off. It's amazing. It's great," she reiterates.
"We intended the Mafia to be a model for how small businesses can get together and cross-promote and make use of each other's publicity. I keep a box of business cards, stickers and buttons [promoting the other designers], and throw some in with every order. And if one of us gets press, we make sure we say 'Do you know about so and so'. This is antithetical to the typical model of business, which we wanted to go against. We said 'Let's not be in competition, let's boost each other' - and it's worked very well."
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Jenny emphasises that for anyone starting a business it's important to reach out and get help from other people. "You have to work out who will be advantageous, who you want to trust. Forming a group is a great way to do this: it's very helpful to share resources and it's very inspiring. You need friends who are going through the same thing. Not everybody starts their own business so there aren't that many people around who understand what your challenges are. The Mafia has been great in this regard."
Eight respected and established Austin-based craft businesses, representing the DIY spirit, make up the ACM. They are All Dressed Up and Shy [Susann Keohane], Hot Pink Pistol [Hope Perkins], Identity Crisis Clothing [Karly Hand], JNA Designs [Jenifer Nakatsu Arntson], plus Sublime Stitching [Jenny Hart], Sparkle Craft [Tina Lockwood], Naughty Secretary Club [Jennifer Perkins] and US cable television knitting guru Vickie Howell.
Individually, the ACM companies offer handmade products including vegan guitar straps and belts, kitschy-cool reconstructed jewellery, hip embroidery kits and patterns, vinyl purses and wallets, original custom-made fashions, artwork and home decor. The unique, hipster designs have earned each member's business recognition both nationally and internationally.
Says Tina Lockwood, "I'd met so many smart, independent businesswomen here in Austin who were either already running their own businesses or had plans to start their own. I felt it would be extremely powerful to get together and organise. It's amazing what you can accomplish together, and rewarding to know we're not depending on big business or corporate America. We're working with each other to open doors and get things done."
Adds Jennifer Perkins, "The ACM has become a really strong network for all the businesses involved. Before the birth of the actual moniker we were a pretty incestuous group. Many of us had been meeting already with various splinter groups like Stitch 'n' Bitch and Babes in Business. We thought, why have all these fractured groups, let's join forces and create one united crafty front. We promote, support and swap trade secrets with each other, all in hopes of aiding in one another's success."
Continuing, Jennifer adds that they "function like a well-oiled machine. Each member brings her own individual talents to the group and serves a specific function. One gal is in charge of researching advertising, one is responsible for maintaining the website, the newsletter and so on. For all members, the ACM functions as a mutual resource of support, promotion, information sharing and fun. They strive to be a model of the entrepreneurial spirit to craft mafias across the country."
Alongside local online collaborations like the ACM and Babes in Business, which have played a leading role in defining online retailing for businesses selling handmade goods, there are others, like Stitch 'n' Bitch, Church of Craft and Portland Super Crafty, which have used the organisational power of the internet to update the quilting bee and sewing circle. These networking groups, which are turning solo crafting into a social activity, are aimed at sharing knowledge, teaching skills and supporting new work.
So, can you and your crafty gal pals join the famiglia and start your own craft mafia? Yes, but the name is a registered trademark so check in first with the ACM by linking up with craftmafia.com. Once you've been 'made', you can plug into the network of sister mafias around the world. The ACM oversees their activities and provides a resource for them to post their press and happenings.
A spin-off of helping and promoting each other through the ACM, says Jenny Hart, is that with thriving businesses it's now difficult for the originators of the craft mafia movement to find time to meet. Sublime Stitching has grown apace. Where once it was just Jenny, now she has three full-time staff and a bevy of 'people' - lawyer, financial and business adviser, web designer and literary agent.
"We're still going but it's a challenge for us to be organised and rally the troops," she says. "We're all getting busier and busier. We used to meet monthly; now it's about once every two months. But I do think it's important."
Vicky Howell has the last word: "We raise the bar for each other. You can help each other and still have it be beneficial to yourself."
PS Look out for profiles on members of the ACM on the pages of Living Creatively. In the next issue we talk to Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching about her, well, sublime stitching.
By Carolyn Ford
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