Zesty Zakka!

According to Amy Morinaka, author of Zakka Handmades, “Zakka is a Japanese term for the many small household goods that organize our homes and help us with our daily tasks” [and I always thought it was Bob who organized and helped round here!!] I picked up her book in Dereham Library this week.

I also got Cecilia Hanselmann’s book, Zakka-style gifts. Dereham Library has a brilliant crafts section, and it is a treat when I’m at Cornerstones for a week to borrow a few of them. I knew nothing about zakka, so these two little books seemed a good introduction to the subject.

Homemade zakka is traditionally made by combining 100% natural fabrics [linen, cotton, wool] with small embellishments and meticulous handwork. Designs are inspired by cultures from around the globe [Scandinavian style, East European folk art, French country, Asian ethnic …] I enjoyed the two books and would like to try out some of the ideas. I found the ‘Handmades’ book more interesting than the ‘Gifts’ one. But both had around two dozen projects with well written instructions and clear photographs.

I felt the ‘Gifts’ one was less innovative. The pincushion was fairly ordinary, and I didn’t see why you would need a ‘glass holder’ – but the owl paperweight was quite fun [but who uses a p/w these days?]

The ‘Handmades’ contained more projects which I felt I might like to make sometime. There was a cute Matryoshka key fob, various baby gifts, a shopping bag with its own drawstring pouch, an ‘air mail’ place mat and these little ‘kotori’ purses [kotori is Japanese for ‘little bird’] There are also projects which involve crochet embellishments as well as hand and machine embroidery.

I have no idea if I will make any of these – but the books are great fun to read and do certainly give you ideas for using up the small bits and pieces in your stash. I may have a go at the ‘chopstick holder’ – [it can also be a cutlery holder and doubles up as a napkin ]so would be ideal for my packed lunches when I am at school. I think the kotori purses are really cute. Two good holiday reads!

My verdict -

Zakka Style Gifts ****

Zakka Handmade *****