See the inspiring stories Come meet us Time to legalize weed?
OPINION
Print media

Martha Stewart: 'American Made' salutes innovation

Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart
  • Manufacturing consolidated the making of things.
  • But now there is a new industrial revolution emerging.
  • I hope you'll join us.

Once upon a time, here in the great land known as America, everything was made by hand, everything was made from scratch, from simple foods to complicated machines that would change the world and the way we lived, communicated and developed. Human beings are extremely entrepreneurial and always have been.

Who figured out that a wheel would aid in the moving of things? Who understood electrical currents and developed the light bulb?

Who created the paper patterns for the Jacquard loom that would eventually lead to the development of printed circuits that would ultimately power thousands of devices used by billions of people every day?

Who understood the science that led to the telegraph, the telephone, the wireless phone?

Entrepreneurial, do-it-your-selfers imagined what was possible and what could be built to improve and simplify (and sometimes confuse and complicate) living, making and doing.

Handmade suffered

Huge companies were built, and factories sprung up everywhere, building cars, refrigerators, and washers and dryers.

Mills were constructed to turn cotton into fabrics that would be then turned into clothes and bedding. Small farmers became factory farmers raising livestock and grains and other foodstuffs to feed the masses. As commerce grew, people started to do less and less of the handmade and the homemade, and manufacturing consolidated the making of things. "American Made" started to become "Made in China" and other foreign lands where labor is cheaper and more plentiful.

But now there is a real national movement emerging in which the local and the handmade and the artisanal are celebrated and encouraged.

Wherever my work or travels take me these days, I am discovering the resurgence of what I like to call "doers," like-minded people who are setting up shops, developing new products, growing good foods, making good things.

New Industrial Revolution

I am not alone in thinking that we are in the midst of a shift in the culture, a moment when a generation of creative entrepreneurs are defining a New American Economy. This reality, I believe, is driven in part by a collective disillusionment with traditional industries, post-economic collapse — and fueled by the ubiquity of technology.

Or, as Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired, so aptly says: "the third wave Industrial Revolution" is being waged by a "maker subculture" enabled by a democratization of technology. And it's no coincidence that these creative entrepreneurs are young — young enough never to have been lulled by a false sense of security of the now elusive lifetime career at any single institution.

I share this passion for innovation and entrepreneurship. My own company has its roots in a small catering operation that I launched at my kitchen table in Westport, Conn., and I'm proud that across our magazines, television shows and digital content, we are shining a light on other creative small businesses.

I'm encouraged by the fact that 28 million small businesses in the U.S. create nearly two out of every three new jobs, employing some 60 million Americans — or half of the private sector workforce.

Salute to creativity

To celebrate the women and men behind this movement from coast to coast, I am proud to announce the launch of American Made, a new initiative that I am leading to salute creative entrepreneurs whose efforts are a powerful engine for economic development and growth.

American Made begins Tuesday with an event honoring 11 outstanding entrepreneurs in food, fashion, design, gardening, crafts, community and technology.

They include Brett Binford and Chris Lyon, who transformed a basement work space into Mudshark Studios, a 17,000-square-foot ceramics cooperative in Portland, Ore.

Carter Cleveland created a business called Art.sy that brings together art and technology offering access to 20,000 digitized images from galleries, museums and institutions in what's been called the "Pandora for art."

And Erika Allen, whose background in art and art therapy inspired her to help adults and at-risk youth grow food, grow minds and grow community, and who now runs eight farm sites around Chicago.

I am joined in this effort by some of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time, including Calvin Klein, Diane Von Furstenberg, Mickey Drexler, Tory Burch, Bob Pittman and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Bloomberg has taken his entrepreneurial spirit into the public sector and is supporting creative business owners with remarkable programs such as the 12 incubators they've launched across the city that bring together public and private dollars and talent and provide individuals and companies with community-oriented work spaces and support to develop their enterprises.

I am committing to join him in this endeavor and look forward to serving as a mentor for the E-Space Kitchen incubator in Brooklyn and the Cashama Arts incubator in Queens, where more than 200 artists, artisans and chefs are attempting to turn their passions into a successful businesses.

I am proud to be a doer and part of this new revolution.

I hope you'll join us.

Featured Weekly Ad