Recently I had the opportunity to talk to a group of fans of the magazines. MAKE: and CRAFT:. They all loved the magazines, but very few people actually made or crafted anything from them. They said they subscribed and read them to get a glimpse into a culture where brains, pluck and ingenuity were more important than celebrity.
One person said he read MAKE: for the same reason his father read Playboy in the 50′s: for the articles, of course. In all seriousness, the Playboy ethos in the early years was as much about a lifestyle as pinups: essays by prominent authors, articles on the latest styles, and reviews of the smoothest jazz. Make: is similar. You’ll probably never tie a digital camera to a kite to make an aerial photography rig, but the story of a person who does can be a fascinating read.
I had associated Make: with Popular Mechanics, but the celebration of otherwise normal people who create extraordinary things really is more like People Magazine . Television shows like American Chopper, Ace of Cakes, and Project Runway compliment this helping to make artisans stars because of what they produce rather than what they look like. Though the supermarket racks may be filled with tabloids chronicling the relationship status of stars, it is a positive cultural marker that inventive cake makers and seamstresses have a shot at renown alongside more traditional celebrities.
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