CRAFTING OUR WORLD
Wool Drying under the Georgian Sun
I have often been asked what is the relationship between craft and spirituality. If you know me, you are perfectly aware of my love for both, but the power of craft goes well beyond taste or entertainment. It travels to the heart of humans from the beginning of our time on earth. It brings us the connection to the land and God, making us a vehicle, the living space where prayer and beauty meet in a unique form - the one given by the hands and breath of the maker. We humans are the distillery of the gifts of life and the witnesses of light and movement. Can prayer exist without craft? Can our hearts become humble, open, broken, and whole again? Sometimes we need our fingers to make the prayer, to be the prayer, to give form to what our minds and words can't name.
And although it is true that craft and art are very powerful ways to express our selves, there is another level of communication with the devine that can be present when we are making, when we allow our love for beauty to guide our fingers to go beyond our mind into the territory of SOUL, this is not about cathartic or aesthetic aspects but about opening a line of connexion a path to our spiritual world.
Because the The act of crafting, whatever big or small, can be a deeply spiritual practice, one that nurtures the heart, that could fosters mindfulness, and cultivates a sense of interconnection between all worlds through our human skills. This connection between craft and spirituality is an inherent bond that enriches human existence.
OUr spirituality seeks to explore the deepest questions of existence, meaning, and purpose, all profound aspects of the human experience, transcending the boundaries of our physical existence, but it is through Craft, that we intentionally engage with materials and creation, and it is one of the ways to connect to deeper realms of consciousness.
I have always turned my hands to making, since a child, and it has been through my work in ceremony that I have found and developed some understanding and internal space of prayer through the making of my fingers.
I have found this connection to the land while working with Georgian artisans through my years of visiting the country. Their Ancient Craft hasn’t been consumed by progress yet and the women and men making are still holders of stories that tells about the joys and sadness of the land and the people that inhabit its.
