Craft Mafia
The first Craft Mafia was founded in 2003 by nine crafty businesswomen in Austin, TX. The group initially came together through a shared love for the Craft, DIY ethics and mutual respect. As the Craft Mafia developed, it became a forum for networking, promotion and shared ideas. Since its development in Austin, other Mafias have popped up across the globe; check them out!
Craft Mafia Inc is an organization composed of a little group of artists/crafters who’ve banded together to support and boost handmade crafts on this website earlier, but now it is not doing handcrafting service. We orchestrate two juried handcraft shows a year; we will show you arts-related events through Shows, support new handcrafted craft companies, and sometimes offer workshops on company issues or crafting techniques.
Our handcraft designers will wonder you with their different style and look if you love to buy our products because it doesn’t make any nonsense like other conventional products. As I said above, we will promote and present our goods in cities to sell, and even we could conduct workshops to entertain TV show buffs.
Everyone is excited to be part of workshops and events conducted by Craftmafia Inc and many more handcrafted companies. You must buy a pass to allow into the event to watch any handcrafted goods show.
We must realize and support hand makers to avoid pollution, hand making things are low cost compared to other conventional products. Craftmafia inc has adopted new technology and designs to attract spectators and buyers, today, the handcrafted product has great demand in the market due to its unique style and design.
Our Mission?
The Austin Craft Mafia™ established the Craft Mafia™ site and network to link and cross-promote sister groups in other cities, share web traffic, and provide helpful information to other professional craft designers and groups.
According to the old Craft Mafia website, The Craft Mafia™ is an independent business owner organization representing multiple creative disciplines in fashion, jewelry, handmade goods, fine art, writing and Craft design.
The Craft Mafia™ serves as a model for independent business owners to assemble with other entrepreneurs in their communities to amplify their vision through the power of a collective.
The Craft Mafia™ offers resources for small businesses through their website, books and television.
The Craft Mafia™ website represents and links to all affiliated groups that have adopted the Craft Mafia™ name.
Since its development in Austin, other Mafias have popped up across the globe; check them out!
Disclaimer: The owner of the Craftmafia.com website has been changed, and the current owners do not represent the Craft Mafia™. Content on this page is for past visitors information only.
Q: Hey! I want to get my resourceful group of DIY folks together in my town. Do you mind if we called ourselves The Poughkeepsie Craft Mafia?
A: We’re so flattered you asked! We would love it if you formed a family.
We’ve had many requests like this, so we started www.CraftMafia.com.
Interest in starting Craft Mafias is booming. Because of this, we here at the Austin Craft Mafia have refined the guidelines for starting your own Craft Mafia so that we can maintain the highest standards of performance possible amongst our Mafia. We all represent each other, so we thought the groups should have a little uniformity.
New and fantastic Craft mafia Guidelines
First, if you’d like to start a Craft Mafia in your town, please let us know immediately. Once you alert us of your intent to form a family, you have 30 days to work out the details, get a website up and running and gather members.
After that time, we will quickly check that you’ve met our few simple requirements, and then you’ll be able to use the Craft Mafia name too.
We ask that each group sign a licensing agreement that protects your group and gives you the right to use and spread your Craft Mafia name worldwide.
There is also a one-time $50 start-up fee to cover all administrative costs on our end. Before you are officially accepted, we ask that you do not use the Craft Mafia name in the press, on Myspace, on Flickr, on a publicized website or in any other public forum. However, we want you to run out and tell the world about your group once you’re officially accepted.
Each Craft Mafia must represent a single city and not a region. We have so many Craft Mafias popping up that it’s unfair to have a Craft Mafia covering an entire region. We also never want more than one Craft Mafia per city — we don’t want any family feuds! Even if your town has a population of 215, it can have a Craft Mafia of its own — don’t be shy!
We ask that every Mafia starts up with at least three members representing three different craft-related businesses. We want to ensure that your membership grows once you claim the name.
You’ll need your website so that everyone can find you! Please create an independently run website (no one likes pop-up ads!) and that the URL has the name of your Mafia in the title (example: dentoncraftmafia.com).
We want to make sure everyone can find you. Make sure that on the website, there is a link to each member’s website, as well as information about your Craft Mafia; if you are open to membership, hold meetings that others can attend…you get the idea!
Tell us you exist! Pending our approval, we will add you to our map to let people know if there is a Craft Mafia in their area. And, keep us informed with your events, press and happenings so we can help spread the word. Email this info here: info@austincraftmafia.com
Link to http://www.CraftMafia.com and http://www.AustinCraftMafia.com from your website. We will link back to you!
If your Mafia receives any press, please make it known that you are part of a more prominent family, CraftMafia.com, and provide our web address with press releases or interviews.
We have a yahoo group address and a Flickr account for Craft Mafia members to help you and your members navigate your way through the adventures your Craft Mafia will have and to show off your latest work and events. You can network there, trade swag or even plan to craft events together! Every member of every Craft Mafia is invited to join these groups. We hope that you’ll find them a valuable resource.
We also have a blog that all Craft Mafias are asked to contribute to.
Our newsletter features articles and tips from all Craft Mafia members. We encourage people to share their knowledge and submit their writing to promote their talents better.
We ask that every Craft Mafia interested member allow us to list them on our shopping page. Here members’ websites are organized by the type of crafts they sell, so your customers can find exactly who and what they’re looking for.
If you do any print advertising, please include a little www.CraftMafia.com somewhere, and you’ll help promote all the Mafias in the network!
And one more thing, we ask that no one sell merchandise with our copyrighted CraftMafia.com logo. However, we encourage you to spread the word about YOUR local Craft Mafia through swag distribution and merchandise sales using your logo and Craft Mafia name. Go for it!!
There are annual dues for each Craft Mafia. We collect $250 every June. This money goes directly to supporting the Craft Mafia through international advertising, Craft Mafia conventions and administrative costs. We purchase large-scale advertising in publications such as Bust, Venus, Adorn, Readymade and Craft. We’re always searching out new venues for advertising, and ads are only purchased once a Craft Mafia-wide vote is held. We want our advertising to help every member.
Once you adopt the Craft Mafia name, we ask that you maintain an active and fully functioning organization. The Craft Mafia is a thriving, growing community. If every member participates, every member will benefit. Please notify us immediately if you decide to close down your chapter. We want to ensure that we’re not talking up a Craft Mafia that’s not around anymore.
Why do we ask all this? The Austin Craft Mafia is the original craft mafia and has served as a model group for others. We want to maintain specific standards of operation among those who’d like to share the widely-recognized Craft Mafia name. To recap,
- Let us know if you’d like to form a Craft Mafia; you have 30 days to get crackin’!
- Start with a minimum of 3 members representing three different businesses.
- Designate your city or town- not an entire region or state.
- Create a website and your logo, and use mytowncraftmafia.com/net/org for the URL.
- Link back to CraftMafia.com and AustinCraftMafia.com, AND We’ll link back to you.
- Link to each member’s website on your Craft Mafia website.
- Tell people where you got the bright idea in any press you do!
- (optional) Consider including ‘member craftmafia.com’ in any print ads.
- Once approved as an official Craft Mafia, you are free to use your Craft Mafia name online and in print!