Intelligent Hands

Charlotte Abrahams and Katy Bevan's in-depth illustrated discussion about the importance of craft in our lives.

Making is good for us. Using our hands benefits our cognitive development, improves our mental agility and can have a positive impact on our mental health, too. Making is implicated in managing fidgeting and poor behaviour in schools. Research has shown that even a small amount of creative activity can help to regulate behaviour, and improve executive functions. We know this, intuitively and intellectually yet, recent years have seen a decline in craft and creative education in schools (60% fewer young people have taken art and design GCSE over the last 12 years)and a shift from practical to theoretical learning models in higher education.

Intelligent Hands: Why making is a Skill for Life investigates the cognitive benefits of craft in life-long learning and brings together existing research and information in an accessible format to make the case for working with our hands. 

This book is a rallying cry for practical, creative education, why we don’t value it and what the benefits are. As we hurtle into the fourth industrial revolution, we risk losing the craft skills that make humans unique. This timely book asks what got us to this place and – more importantly – how we can change it. 

Charlotte Abrahams is a writer, author, and an occasional curator, specialising in design and the applied arts. She has contributed to publications including Guardian Weekend, Saturday Telegraph Magazine, Times LUXX, Financial TimesHow to Spend It, and CRAFTS. Her other books include: Love Pattern & Colour The Essential Guide; Hygge; and Wallpaper The Ultimate Guide.

Katy Bevan is an independent  writer and educator with a specialism in craft running workshops in darning, crochet and knitting. She writes for textile and craft magazines such as Selvedge, is the founder of publishing company Quickthorn Ltd and blogs at The Crafter, and is mostly to be found knitting.