About

For people who make things by hand, and the things they make.

I'm married to an artist, and I've spent years watching beautiful things appear at the kitchen table, and then in an unofficial capacity, played the role of consultant on matters such as pricing, packaging, queuing at the post office, checking emails, building websites... that begin "Just wondering if…". The making is the part she loves.

People have made things by hand for as long as there have been people. I've come to believe that what they make is about to be wanted, and valued, more than it has been in generations. Many of us spend our days in front of screens, and more and more of us want something real in our lives: a bowl someone threw, a table someone built, a print someone pulled by hand. The rarer those things feel, the more we treasure them.

Hande is about why that's happening, and what it means for the people doing the making.

Twice a month, on a Friday morning, I'll send you an essay. Each takes about ten minutes to read and has one idea at its heart, borrowed as often from a Swiss watchmaker or an eighteenth-century potter as from anyone in the craft world. Each ends with a short exercise, so you can see what the idea means for your own work. Some will be about pricing, some about the people who buy, and some about the odd and lovely history of making things for a living.

For now, everything is free. In time, members will receive something every Friday: an extra essay each month, shorter notes in between, a library of the exercises to print and pin above the bench, and what I learn each year from asking makers what they really charge and earn. It will cost £5 a month.

Hande is for anyone who makes things with their hands and has wondered whether it could become more than it is. You won't find hustle here, or anyone telling you to post more.

I'm Alex, and I live in East Lothian. By day I work at Ghost, the publishing platform this site is built on, where I look after sales and partnerships. I've spent most of my working life on the selling side of things, and most of my home life watching the making side. Hande sits somewhere between the two.

If that sounds like you, I'd be glad to have you.