I like to make things. That’s me summed up in four words.

As a child I was an avid drawer and maker. TV shows like ‘Whacky Races’ really inspired me. I even won a national competition (aged 7) for my quirky interpretation of a Kraft cheese factory.

Later, as I learnt to wield a hammer (without loosing an eye) I tried to make some of these machines. I remember spending a lot of time building wind turbines, rat traps, concealed motorised safes (I got that idea from a James Bond movie) and even bubble machines.

After school I attended Art College and then pursued a career within the advertising and design industry. While working I continued to make things – mainly for my home, but it was only as my eldest son began to draw that my own interest in making things was reignited.

To be precise, it would be fair to say it all began in Starbucks.

My boys had finished their hot chocolates and were getting restless. I was trying to enjoy the rest of my Latte. In desperation I grabbed a handful of wooden stirring sticks and started weaving them in and out of each other. Within a few minutes I had constructed a simple house that could lean up against my cup. The kids were impressed, and slightly amused, and spent the next ten minutes trying make their own one. I enjoyed the rest of my Latte in peace and quiet.

That was the beginning of whatimade.com.

In that moment I realized something that I had known as a child, but had forgotten since becoming an became an adult; that there is an enormous amount of joy gained from making things, even simple things, and that this joy is not in the complexity or quality of the finished product, but in the process of making itself.

One year, two Webby Awards and 350,000 visitors later, it was clear that what delighted me also delighted a great many other people. It appeared that there was a need for a craft blog that delighted in the whole process of making, not just the end result. A blog where the blog itself was as lovingly constructed as the projects it contained; a blog where the projects were as playfully considered as the instructions that accompany them; a blog where being a grown-up didn’t mean you couldn’t embrace your inner-child.

Scott Bedford

I’d like to dedicate this blog to my wife and two boys – hopefully my 2011 Webby Award and Webby People’s Voice Award for best personal blog will be some reward for their support!

P.S. Comments are always welcome, in fact, very welcome.
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