handcraftmachines represent a new approach to making, where traditional handcraft techniques merge with digital and mechanical tools to create hybrid systems for textile and material production. These tools are not just about efficiency or automation—they are about rethinking the relationship between makers and their tools, allowing for more intuitive, adaptable, and personal ways of working. By designing and modifying machines to fit individual needs, makers regain control over their creative processes, stepping beyond the limitations of mass production and commercial hardware.

At the core of handcraftmachiness is a belief in accessibility, openness, and experimentation. By sharing open-source designs and adaptable frameworks, this concept invites textile and material designers to explore new possibilities, hack existing tools, and shape their own methods of production. It challenges the idea that high-tech and handcraft exist in opposition, instead fostering a space where both coexist in a fluid, empowering exchange.

handcraftmachines embrace a more-than-human approach to design, where creativity emerges from the collaboration between human intuition and machine logic. Rather than seeing tools as passive instruments, this concept recognizes them as active partners in the making process—extending our capabilities, suggesting new possibilities, and even challenging our assumptions about materiality and technique. By engaging with machines as co-creators, makers can explore unexpected outcomes, allowing the interplay of human sensitivity and mechanical precision to shape new forms of expression. This fluid exchange between hand, craft, and machine opens up new ways of thinking about authorship, agency, and the role of technology in creative practice.