Craftivism and Slow Living

Today I was thinking about craftivism and also about the slow living movement. I was pondering the ways in which these two movements are alike. What concepts do they share? Well, I guess most obviously they are both movements against the rampant materialism and material excesses of our time. Craftivism favors the object made by hand, with attention. It favors the object which embodies the time and skill of the crafter. And the slow living movement, similarly favors that which embodies time and attention. While thinking about this and googling various terms, I ran across this particularly apt comment:

Craft is to shopping what slow food is to restaurants.

Both craft and slow food take time, attention, and intention. Craft and slow food flow against the tide of our times. And to nurture the production of craft or slow food one must act with resolve, dedication. It is so easy to buy cheap mass-made goods or to buy fast food when we are pressed for time. But nonetheless, movements have grown up around the humble activities of craft and slow food. Perhaps these movements signal a widespread desire for other times and other ways. Do we see a general desire to turn the tide? I, for one, do hope so.