On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking with two of the winners of the Golden Scissors Awards. These new awards recognize excellence in the crafts industry and are given out annually at h+h americas. Nominations were open to everyone and the winners were determined by an independent panel of judges made up of craft industry professionals.
The awards included five categories: Emerging Leader, Sustainability, Social Impact, Innovation, and Lifetime Achievement.
We have the privilege of interviewing four of the five winners for the podcast this year. We’ll split these into two episodes, each with two 30-minute conversations. Here is the second one.
This episode is sponsored by Craftsy.
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In the second episode, we’ll hear the stories of our Innovation Award, Masey Kaplan and Jen Simonic. The two co-founders have come up with an organization that eases grief, creates community, and inspires generosity. The Loose Ends Project matches volunteer handwork finishers with projects people have left unfinished due to death or disability and now has more than 20,000 volunteers globally who have completed 2,000 projects. The winners are Masey Kaplan and Jen Simonic.
We’ll also hear the story of our Social Impact Award winner, Allyson Allen. Allyson is the organizer of the Piece-ful Protest Quilt Exhibit which features 36 quilted textiles of protest art. Recognized by the State of California as an award-winning Master African American textile artist and culture bearer, she organized this exhibit to be shown in Laguna Beach California where it had a significant impact in furthering the understanding of open-minded diversity and inclusivity.
We hope you are inspired by both Masey and Jen’s and Allyson’s stories! Nominations for the 2025 Golden Scissors Awards will open early in the year and we encourage you to nominate yourself or someone else, and to attend the awards ceremony at h+h americas in Chicago May 7-9, 2025.