Craft Cartel was founded by Casey Jenkins and Rayna Fahey in 2007 to honour and subvert making techniques associated with women. Pissed off with the exhorbitant cost of local craft markets which forced makers to sell masses of benign cutesy crap in order to break even, the duo set up a dirt cheap ($5 a stall with free bbq) market for ‘purveyors of political craft’ in an inner city outdoor bar in Melbourne. The Cartel then evolved into a series of free pop-up markets, street craft actions, a podcast and, most memorably, group craftivist sessions ‘Trashbag Rehab’ where crafters gathered en-masse in local pubs and parks to craft activism projects raising awareness about current social issues.

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