Fashion designer Jenny Packham on why she's getting behind our Let's Craft campaign

Jenny Packham believes wholeheartedly in the meditative power of craft, and has been putting pen to paper to create things since she was a child. She tells us about coming from a long line of crafty women, explains why she supports the Crafts Council’s Let’s Craft campaign, and discusses how making things by hand can offer a much-needed escape for children that need it.

Was craft an important part of your childhood?

Jenny Packham: We were a very crafty household. I thought that was very normal at the time. My mum was always doing something – sculpting, painting or making something. She used to make all her own clothes. Both my grandmothers were needlewomen too – one of them was a dressmaker for the community. My grandmother lived until she was about 96, and there wasn’t a single time when I went to see her that she wasn’t making something. So I took it for granted that people were making things all the time. It was very inspiring.

As children, we were allowed to make a mess, and we really did make a mess. We were also allowed to use anything that was to hand. Expressing myself creatively has always been part of my life, and that’s what drew me to this campaign, because I think there are kids that don’t have any means to express themselves in that way.

How did this background in making translate into your career?

At the time, if you wanted something interesting or different – or couldn’t afford what was in the shop – you’d make it. To start with I was copying what was going on around me, but then I started thinking, ‘Oh, if I buy some fabric and make this, I’ll have something different to everybody else’. If I was going out on Saturday night, I’d be thinking, ‘OK, I’m going to run something up in the afternoon and wear it in the evening’. And then I became very creative, because it was about finding that amazing outfit. Making clothes was always there for me – I’ve always been really interested in the process. I love the techniques and the ways of making things fit and getting texture.

As soon as I found out there was actually a job where I could do all of it, that was it. I stopped designing for myself quite early on. In a very basic way, my job is to make other people feel happy in what I’ve created. Then they buy it and I can continue. Drawing something on paper and turning it into a 3D piece of clothing, and then someone else taking that and wearing it somewhere seems like such a lovely journey.

Has the therapeutic and expressive side of craft also been important?

Often, children and adults can’t put things into words. And it doesn’t have to be a negative emotion, it can be a positive one. To be able to literally draw that out of yourself is very therapeutic. Sometimes you sit down and feel like you’re in a really good mood and start drawing, then something comes out of you. I have days where I feel like I’m in the right mood, but somehow the connection between my brain and hand doesn’t work that day. I think whenever you start working creatively, you’re connecting with a part of yourself that you don’t always know.

Do you feel like that more meditative part of craft is especially crucial at the moment?

I was born in 1965, and in the 70s I was very much at home doing things. If we didn’t do something, we’d get bored, and boredom was really something to avoid. There weren’t many options, and therefore crafting and making things was a way of expressing yourself.

I think kids nowadays have almost the opposite, where they have to take themselves away from all the distractions, and it’s a challenge to concentrate. For me, sitting down and thinking ‘I’m going to design for the rest of the afternoon’ is a form of meditation. I take myself away from everything and I’m just concentrating on one thing and I get lost in it. I think, especially for children, trying to disappear and being completely absorbed in something can be very rewarding – and maybe you'll end up with something you’re proud of.

What made you decide to support the Let’s Craft campaign?

I think it’s a brilliant cause. I like the idea that the Crafts Council is raising the money by the end of September, and there’s a short-term aim of getting 10,000 boxes out to kids. A lot of those kids will maybe fill up an afternoon, but you never know – it might just trigger off something that lasts a lifetime. Maybe during this lockdown, the kids that have been through this will find their lives changed.

It’s amazing how many people are employed by the fashion business or the creative arts, and yet it’s still treated like a risky occupation. Within schools, art is slightly marginalised. If you’re thinking about the wellbeing of a child or an adult, having that escape – even if you never earn money from it at all, but it’s something you enjoy doing – will help you with everything else you want to do in life.

Let’s Craft is supported by the following Corporate donors: Cox London, Yodomo, TOAST, Immediate Media, MADE MAKERS and Hobbycraft