I enjoyed Kim’s outlook on scrapbooking and what needs to change so much, that I thought I’d share.
(Via Press Release) – Kim Luty uses scrapbooking to illustrate that it’s our differences that make us the same.
“The scrapbooking market has traditionally presented an extremely limited number of products targeting people who are outside what most of us call ‘the norm,'” says craft industry professional Kim Luty. A scrapbooking enthusiast as well as a professional, Luty says it was difficult, if not impossible, to “find images of blended families, unmarried adults, single parents, active seniors, people with curbs and the disabled.”
Even more troubling, she felt, was the lack of diversity within the product lines. She found scrapbook kits with images that were appropriate for people of color, or for people of one religious background or another, but “They seemed very ‘one note’ to me,” she says.
To Luty, existing scrapbooking products “didn’t represent the diversity of people and lifestyles that I see all around me every day.” She decided to address the situation and today, with her company Same-Differences, Luty wants to change the world of scrapbooking to look more like her world, “a magnificent tapestry made up of beautiful, but different threads.”
Luty’s products distinguish themselves from other mainstream offerings for croppers with an unusual attitude towards the dissimilarities that define people. “Same-Differences presents images of a broad spectrum of ages, abilities, colors, ethnicities, and physical attributes,” observes Luty.
“And we show them working together, playing together, and living together just the way they do in real life,” she says proudly.
“Do I have strong opinions that scrapbooking products should reflect the diversity of our lives? You bet I do,” says Luty. “But they’re just my opinions, my perspective, and my individual ‘world view.'” With the Same-Differences products, “I simply invite people to join me in sharing that view,” she says.
Luty notes that some companies prefer to target a separate niche with their products, offering images of a single ethnicity, religion, or physical state. She says she has no problem with companies and customers who prefer what she simply calls a different scrapbooking “frame.”