Riding high on the success of their brand-new book Craftfulness, we sat down with lifelong friends, crafters and now authors Rosemary Davidson & Arzu Tahsin to discuss how the simple act of making can bring so many benefits to people’s mental health and wellbeing.

Lovely to meet you both! Let’s get started by explaining the concept of Craftfulness to our readers!
The concept of the book is very simple! We have always crafted and soon realised that not only is crafting a creative expression, but it has also helped us over the years to keep stress at bay, still our busy minds (we’re both freelance editors) and even alleviate symptoms of mental health issues.

So, exactly what made you want to write a book all about the mindfulness aspects behind crafting?
Blame our agent for that! We started to read into some of the research for creativity and making as part of a toolkit to manage 21st-century living and it was so convincing and positive that we wanted to share some of the science, but also the many testimonies from the making community advocating crafting as a wellbeing and mindfulness tool. It was the stories from the making community we found incredibly moving. People like us, with day-jobs who didn’t earn money from crafting and did it simply for the joy of making. We talked to makers who quilted their way through bereavement and others whose symptoms of depression were alleviated by knitting.

How can dedicated and lifelong crafters benefit from reading Craftfulness? What can they take away from it?
If you’re already a crafter, you will know well the benefits of having a regular craft routine and Craftfulness extrapolates some of the science, rejoices in crafters’  experiences of how making helped them in difficult situations and underlines that crafting ticks many of the wellbeing boxes for mindful practice. We hope to inspire those who lack confidence to have a go. We all begin knowing nothing, it’s only by doing that you learn.

How has crafting impacted your lives personally?
We can’t remember a time when we weren’t crafting, whether it was knitting, crochet, bookbinding, printmaking, drawing or cracking small glass tiles to make mosaic mirrors! So, it’s hard to know how exactly it has impacted our lives, BUT we certainly feel different if we haven’t had the time to craft. It’s almost as if something is missing, we feel the absence. There is nothing like sitting at your desk to start a new project and having the luxury of time to finish it! So through marriage, busy work lives, raising small children, mental health issues – we have crafted. It has been the soundtrack to our lives if you like!

Here at Crafts Beautiful, we love and really focus on the community and friendship element of crafting. Why do you think it brings so many people together? Can more be done to get the message out about the benefits?
We have found the crafting community to be nothing but generous, inspiring, sharing and encouraging – who wouldn’t want to hang out with such people?! Making things together is the perfect companionship activity, you can spark each other’s ideas, share your failures and know you’ll take away something useful from the feedback. Social media in the crafting community has done so much to spread the word that making stuff makes you feel good. Instagram, in particular, is a glorious showcase of what you can do if you use your hands to make something.

You two certainly have a very special bond and shared passion, tell us a little more about your friendship and how it all began!
We’re both publishers and editors and met many years ago at Random House. However, it wasn’t until we were at Bloomsbury, working on books such as The Kite Runner and Schott’s Miscellany when our friendship consolidated that we discovered a shared mutual love of making things with our hands, and it was after that, against the backdrop of raising children, publishing books, some mental health issues and eventually as freelance editors that we met regularly to have a meal and a gossip – all the while making! Crafts came into our lives long before we were editors. It would be safe to say that we knitted and crocheted before we could read! But editing is what we call ‘busy head work’ and at the end of a long day of editing fiction or non-fiction, crafting helps to empty one’s mind, resolve issues and generally wind down.

We’d love to know what your favourite crafts are and how they help provide a sense of calm into your lives?
We have quite different tastes! Rose is more into the fabric and woollen crafts such as knitting, sewing and making clothes, although she is newly in love with pottery. Arzu enjoys bookbinding and printmaking, as well as drawing and knitting. For variety, we have many projects on the go at the same time as we’re not terribly good at starting one project and finishing it before we start another. So according to one’s mood, Rose might do a spot of knitting before she sits down to work in the morning, pull out the sewing machine to hem a new skirt in the afternoon, then settle down in the evening with a pile of darning. Arzu equally has stacks of fine sketchbook paper always on the go ready to be bound into books. There is something incredibly relaxing about handling crisp sheets of textured paper, measuring and cutting them to size and choosing the thread and book cloth to make just the perfect book.

Why do you feel it’s important for more people to take an hour or so out of their hectic lives and spend that time crafting? 
An hour or so out of a hectic schedule we would say is good for anyone. Whether it’s to walk around the park or an art gallery in your lunch hour or to make sure you see your friends regularly. Crafting feeds the soul, it reaches into that innately creative space we all have and gives it expression. Just like meditation, focusing your head and hands on a project for an hour can be refreshing and also reduce the stress we are all subject to these days – being away from our devices is not a bad thing – that’s something we all know.

How can our readers get the message across to their friends and family that taking up a craft habit will make a positive impact on their mental health?
Turn to pastimes you’ve once enjoyed – release the child that loved to play. That’s what happened to us. As we grew older the emphasis was on academic achievement and responsibility, how could we take time out of busy schedules to sit and knit or make prints or bind books – we were full-time workers, mothers – but we knew that crafting nourished parts of us that none of the other stuff reached. That’s what we would say to anyone reading this – we loved to play as children, so make things, let your imagination run wild, no-one is stopping you now. Join the pottery class, take the upholstery class and learn to knit – the world is your oyster!

After reading Craftfulness, how can readers spread the word and inspire others to kick back and learn a craft?
Just like all good fiction, it is better to show than tell! Invite your friends over for a Christmas decoration making session before the holidays. Ask the proficient crafter in your life to show you and some friends how to bind simple books, darning together is more fun than doing it alone. The internet is awash with excellent demos and instructions, take some time and try a few things. The more you work at your craft the happier you’ll be with your efforts.

Craftfulness by Rosemary Davidson and Arzu Tahsin (Quercus, £12.99). Purchase now.