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You found the page for A Smaller Life Podcast, and we’re so glad you did! Tune in to this episode to hear more about the brand, the vision, and the host, Saskia de Feijter. Don’t forget to subscribe!
Saskia de Feijter
This is A Smaller Life, a podcast about making more conscious and more ethical choices within our craft. We look at textile arts in general, and knitting in specific.
15 years ago, I started practicing yoga. My diet became more and more based on conscious choices: organic, vegetarian, and primarily plant-based. I became a mom and started to make different choices for myself and my family. With the changing world around us, I felt the need to live a more conscious lifestyle, to set an example, but also to keep my life smaller and push overwhelm away. Because when you think about what you do, you take more time and end up with less of everything. As a result, you get A Smaller Life.
Two years ago, a congenital heart disease pushed me into a near burnout. It was one plate too many to hold up in the air. And when COVID hit, I had no choice but to close down my brick and mortar yarn shop and pivot my whole business into an online-based community revolving around knitting consciously.
Together with local makers, I make tools, yarns and accessories for knitters that want to buy less, buy better, make more and make it last.
Our online community is a safe haven where we inspire and learn from each other. And this podcast is the umbrella that shields all of it, keeping away the overwhelm, and all the ridiculousness of overconsuming within our craft.
If we can live A Smaller Life in general. It is time that we take a look at our craft to see what kind of consumers we are, and what kind of practices we have and keep. In the podcast, I endeavor to answer the questions we ask ourselves before we start a project. What do we buy? Where do we buy? Who do we buy from, or don't we buy at all, but use what we already have? Because be honest, we all have a curated collection of materials, aka 'the stash'. The whole spectrum of choices and questions we ask ourselves before we end up with new projects, fresh off the needles. That's what I'm focusing on.
Can we make projects that are friendly to humans, animals and the environment? And shouldn't we focus on making what we need instead of what we want? Now, I'm not here to judge. I'm here to ask questions so that hopefully we can grow our knowledge and skills and become better makers in every sense of the word.
It's a journey for me as a yarn shop owner, to find out how I can still be relevant selling people more stuff they don't need. I'm looking for answers to questions that will grow my business while growing smaller. Now, did you ever hear an entrepreneur say such a thing? I'm hoping to take you with me to discover the answers to these relevant questions. Can we make our lives a little smaller, a little less overwhelming, to find focus and purpose while still enjoying our craft and our community?
I will be there every other week with guests and philosophies, sometimes in Dutch, sometimes in English, but always with my needles next to me. [outro music]