How Craft Builds Community & Connects Us Again

Rediscovering the quiet power of shared skills, connection, and the art of Italian sandal making

I grew up in a place where people depended on one another’s hands.

In our small East German village (at a time when the country was under Soviet rule, decades behind the West) life was quiet, yes… but also steady, industrious, and stitched together from the skills of its people.

Every house, every person held a skill ... often many ... and people worked together.

On weekends and long summer evenings, the men would gather to build each other’s houses. The bricklayers laid the walls, the carpenters raised the roof beams, and my grandfather and uncle, both blacksmiths, forged stair railings and fences. While they built, the women cooked great steaming pots of food to feed everyone, keeping the children close and the household rhythm steady.

And this spirit of exchange carried through everyday life. My grandfather shaped horseshoes for the neighbour’s horse, and in return that horse ploughed our garden, where we grew food for ourselves and our animals. My grandmother preserved fruit and vegetables for the winter months.

It was a beautiful cycle, each person offering what they had, and receiving what they needed in return.

It wasn’t perfect, of course. People disagreed, and sometimes they knew a little too much about each other’s lives. But beyond that was something stronger, a kind of trust. A sense of leaning on each other, and of knowing you were part of something bigger than yourself.

We didn’t call it “community.” It was simply life.

The Thread That Connects Then and Now

That world shaped me.

Even though I now live in Australia and my craft has its roots in Italy, I carry that little village inside me, that way of living where making and supporting are bound together. Where people quietly look out for one another.

And that is what I hope to pass on.

The women who join SANDAL MASTERY come from different walks of life, from different backgrounds and cultures. But here, they find something in common.

They are connected by their love of Italian sandals and craftsmanship. By the skills they are learning, and by the businesses they are building. And that connection is beautiful.

In a world that can feel so divided, creating something side by side, learning, sharing, and encouraging one another, feels more needed than ever.

Just the other day, one of my students offered to share her materials with others. Another offered to help with the paperwork around importing. Two other women who had never met are planning to meet up, to swap not just ideas, but also materials they each imported from Italy, and maybe even create something together in the future.

It’s a small thing, but it makes me ache with happiness. Because this is how community is built. How women find belonging.

Like threads, weaving gently around one another, leaning on each other, sharing ideas and resources, building lives and careers that feel true to who they are. And sometimes I realise… what I’m building now is not so different from what I grew up with.

A circle of care, hands helping hands, and people quietly creating something beautiful together around a traditional skill, around craftsmanship. In many ways, it feels like coming home.