A material world: AYFP is a labour of love about the love of labour

Not long after graduating, having initially studied illustration, Emma Crabtree was unsure of what direction to take – not doing a lot of self-initiated work in the subsequent years. “Instead I was doing lots of craft,” the London-based creative tells us, “following patterns to knit and sew my own clothes, making quilts with natural dyes – I found this a calming way to still be creative but more slowly.” From this contented space, Emma created Touchstone in 2020, her first book that became not only Emma’s first foray into self-publishing but also distribution and book fairs. “The one thing I took away was that I knew I wanted to be a part of this community,” she explains, “even when I wasn’t making, I would go to book fairs and know that I wanted to be behind that table.”

Having tinkered around in her head about where this passion could take her, before too long, she had an epiphany: yarn and fibre. And AYFP (A Yarn and Fibre Publication) was born. “It’s a topic I engage with every day and am actively involved in the community for,” Emma details. Having casually put out an open call on Instagram one night, she found herself with over 90 submissions the next morning, 30 of which became AYFP’s first issue. 

Firmly and proudly existing with the DIY publishing space, AYFP is unique for its unapologetic excitement and intrigue in its subject matter, celebrating craft, materials and community – alongside the storied history and legacies of these practices. “I hope to create a space for the exciting textiles work and research being produced,” Emma shares, hoping to particularly champion those early on in their careers. Much like the evolution of the publication design, audience and scale since its launch, now working on issue three, Emma finds herself “constantly reworking the process” of submission. “It’s lovely to see connections being made between contributors and how they support one another’s work,” she expands, fostering a genuine, supportive community spirit rarely found within contemporary publishing – perhaps a quality afforded through AYFP’s DIY sensibilities.  

“To me, DIY is about not shying away from the hand of the maker, visible learning and mistakes,” Emma details, “a zine, in its easily discernible production methods, is in itself a how-to and an encouragement for others to get involved,” a notion that profoundly shapes AYFP, particularly in how Emma allows the publication to change. “I didn’t want to be too rigorous with how I ‘branded’ from the get-go,” she suggests, with each issue growing from the previous. Plus, considering Emma’s one-man band setup, AYFP’s evolutions are far more controllable. “As well as a challenge, this offers a unique opportunity to shape a project into something worthwhile,” Emma notes, “with processes that fit your ethos.”

AYFP is a publication that embodies how the medium can inform (and be informed by) the message, drawing on aesthetic cues from vintage knitting patterns and manuals, craft references and, as Emma describes, mess. “Something I think about a lot when working on this is how to design for craft content while avoiding tweeness,” she expands, discussing the philosophy behind AYFP’s design. “I want the publication to reflect the craft community that I exist within, which is not twee, it’s VERY COOL,” championing textiles as a discipline and material more important and radical than people make it out to be.  

Alongside encouraging excitement for textiles, repairing, making and mending, Emma hopes that AYFP shows others the possibilities of what you can make, especially on a shoestring budget. “It’s really just about bringing together or giving space to a group of people who have something to say,” Emma ends, “what do I want people to take away from reading AYFP? Crop marks, fingerprints, joy and tangibility of the book as an object.”