Kollabora is a learning and sharing platform that unites crafters worldwide. 

Looking for a place to learn new crafting skills, share your latest sewing, knitting or jewelry creations, or simply to find fashion-forward ideas for new projects? Look no further than Kollabora, the most comprehensive and open-sourced online crafting platform to date. Launched in September 2012, this social platform for makers hosts an impressive database of craft projects and corresponding supplies that are readily available through the site, basically making it a one-stop shop for any new project you want to start. Members can connect with each other to share their passion for making, rather than always buying, the beautiful things we all like to wear, share and give as gifts.

Kollabora’s “we are what we make” slogan rings loud and clear on every part of the platform, which is buzzing with amazing inspiration from DIYers, eminent craft bloggers and brands that support the maker movement. We caught up with a keen crafter and founding member of Kollabora, Carol Cho, to hear more about the quest to gather crafters and let the creativity blossom.

Leena Oijala: How was Kollabora born? What was the inspiration?

Carol Cho: Kollabora was born because of a desire to inspire, teach and provide resources to a community that appreciates DIY. A lot of people who are interested in DIY don’t know how to crossover unless they’ve had parents or grandparents teach them, and that’s why Kollabora is here. There are great blogs out there that offer amazing inspiration, but sometimes the time taken to search out products makes it hard for people to start a project.

LO: How did it develop?

CC: Part of the team that started Kollabora had worked on Burdastyle.com, which is the largest online sewing community. But we realized that people don’t just sew – they do a lot of other DIY, so we launched Kollabora, which is all about collaborative making. Right now we’re focusing on sewing, jewelry and knitting, and soon we’ll be going into home dec and other crafts. We have a great blog with fashion editorial and DIY news and we’ll be featuring a lot of the brands and supplies that are leading the movement.

LO: Who is Kollabora meant for?

CC: It’s meant for someone who is a beginner/intermediate DIYer and is looking to learn more about crafting. We are also launching our ‘Brand Pages’ where companies, bloggers or independent designers are able to share their knowledge, get feedback and engage directly with members.

LO: Does it cost anything?

CC: It’s all free and it’s as easy as taking a photo of something that you’ve made, uploading and titling it and writing a short description.

LO: Would you say Kollabora is comparable to Etsy?

CC: It’s very different. Etsy sells finished goods, whereas Kollabora is about collaborative making. Kollabora is less about selling goods, although the site does offer the capability to link to a shop or personal site, and really about inspirational projects, instructions and techniques and the supplies needed to make featured projects. It’s really more of a learning platform.

LO: How would you say that an online craft tutorial compares to a real-life crafting class?

CC: The major difference is accessibility and the instantaneous factor; you can start a project at 2am and have an entire community that can help you through your process. We have a technique and glossary section under each project where you can comment or ask a question.

We do organize live events where we engage with our members in person. We have to be where our community is and where the creatives are. In the summer we’ll have DIY lounges at all the renegade craft fairs nationwide!

LO: Would you say that Kollabora is sustainable?

CC: The platform itself can definitely sustain itself because a lot of it is user generated. We’re always getting fresh, new content and inspiration and the community is very powerfully connected. People support each other through comments and even in cases of a bad comment, other members have made a point of responding by saying that the platform is a positive environment so we don’t talk to each other that way.

LO: Why do you think there has been a revival in crafting?

CC: I think a lot of platforms out there have been disrupting the way that people consume and create and the maker movement has been a popular reaction to that. There’s a stronger connection to how things are made.

LO: Do you think the revived interest in crafting can change the fashion and textile industries?

CC: Absolutely! The way that our demographic has been consuming goods has always been very much packaged and there hasn’t been a story connected to it. There’s always a need of a story and that’s a very powerful thing. That story usually includes how its been made, the person behind it, the inspiration and the emotion, and that’s really what the Kollabora community is. 

LO: How do you hope to see Kollabora develop and evolve?

CC: I’d love to see us go beyond the categories that we currently have. Much of our time is put into listening to feedback and so it’s really the community that will direct where we will go. It’ll be very interesting to see where they take us.

Images: Kollabora

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Annie Millican invites you to join a DIY craft tour that will take you to the heart of the vibrant crafting culture in the Sacred Valley of Peru. 

Be one of 10 participants to travel across the Peruvian Andes this May on a collaborative crafting expedition that will introduce you to the amazing indigenous craft culture of the area. The tour, organized by online DIY platform Kollabora, will be a total cultural immersion that will expand your horizons and tap deep into your inner adventurer. Living with a Peruvian host family, visiting an alpaca farm, dyeing yarns with local natural dyes, learning how to use a back strap loom and visiting the sacred site of Machu Picchu are all part of this unique and enriching experience.

Tour organizer Annie Millican first immersed herself in the rich crafting heritage of Ollantaytambo, Peru in 2009, leading her to establish a product development initiative called Awamaki Lab. The four-year project brought (and still brings) designers to Peru to work alongside local artisans to create beautiful products for international sale, creating a sustainable and accessible way to share the gorgeous craft heritage of the region. She’s now teamed up with Kollabora for this tour in order to provide more designers and crafters with the experience of working alongside local artisans and establishing meaningful relationships through the art of making. We caught up with Annie to hear more about what this exciting adventure has in store for its crafty participants.

Leena Oijala: How did you decide that a tour would be the next step after Awamaki for sharing the Peruvian craft heritage?

Annie Millican: I wanted to figure out how to concentrate the benefits of the Awamaki Lab experience and open up the opportunity to other designers/makers/knitters.  The greatest benefit of Awamaki Lab was fostering meaningful connections between skilled designers and artisans and so I was interested in creating a similar model that speaks to the Kollabora crafter.  The tour is really a cultural immersion program and pairs designers with local artisans in mini, non-competitive teams.

The idea is that these teams will come up with their own unique solution to a pattern challenge, making it a very hands-on experience. The tour will be a journey into discovering every step along the way of how the product is made; we’ll visit an alpaca farm, we’ll study hand spinning on a local drop spindle, and we’ll learn about design and the back strap loom under local weavers.

LO: Who would you say this tour is meant for?

AM: Anyone who has an adventurous spirit, who wants to disconnect from the daily grind in a beautiful, idyllic Andean town and collaborate with crafting counterparts across the globe. It’s for someone who is excited about a rustic, cultural immersion that involves living with a host family, eating traditional Peruvian cuisine and experiencing how traditional crafts have been maintained in more rural areas.

LO: How strong do participants’ craft skills need to be?

AM: Having basic knitting skills will help a lot. We’ll be working with a chunky, handspun alpaca yarn, which will be easier for beginners, as the yarn knits up quickly and is easier to handle.

LO: How did you come to work with Kollabora for the tour?

AM: I’ve known the Kollabora folks since they started burdastyle and have maintained a friendship with them ever since. They reached out to me last year inquiring about tour opportunities and I responded with an idea for a concentrated design experience.

It’s great to work with an online community that connects DIY makers across the world to a skill sharing board. The platform allows individual crafters to go online the post their own DIY projects, network with like-minded crafters and find inspiration, materials and tutorials for new projects. The tour personifies this, as its really about relationship building and capturing the Kollabora essence by taking the online community offline and into a hands-on experience.

LO: What are your goals for this tour?

AM: The goal is to introduce crafters from around the world to crafters in Ollantaytambo and foster relationships that tour participants and local crafters can maintain by their own volition.

We’re  working with the Asociacion Virgen de Carmento, a self-organized artisan association from an outlying community called Rumira. So the tour will support their organization tremendously and will be feeding back into the community by supporting the women we’ll be visiting and working with.

LO: How do you hope to see the project evolve?

AM: If the tour is successful there will be another tour in November, which we have scheduled around the local ramie harvest season.

LO: Collaboration is a key concept in a lot of the work you’ve done. How important do you think collaboration is in creating a sustainable textile and fashion industry?

AM: I think collaboration nurtures relationships and those relationships support increased transparency.  All links across the value chain in the production of retail goods ultimately rely on the relationships that people build with one another. This process is underscored by clear and open communication between different members of a process. In terms of design, cross-cultural collaboration is an area that should be explored more because it really fosters mutually beneficial skill-sharing.  There are such incredible high art traditions in some of the most remote corners of the world that can both inform and benefit designer interfacing.

LO: Will we see more artisan work in the mainstream during the next 10-20 years?

AM: I hope so! I think there are a lot of logistical constraints to insuring that artisan groups can fulfill deadline situations that brands have. So there is still a lot of infrastructural support that needs to be established to make that working relationship more realistic.

However, there is a renewed interest in seeing a greater story embedded in the clothing and other items that people buy and own. Seeing the meticulous handiwork in an item that you own creates a very meaningful connection.

The tour dates are May 25th to June 2nd, 2013 at a total cost of $1,799 excluding flights. Check out Kollabora’s website for a full itinerary  and fill out a brief questionnaire for registration. This is an amazing opportunity for a completely unique and engaging experience, so get on board quick to secure one of the last 5 spots!

Images: Kate Reeder

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