Check out Carmen Majeau’s crafty wares, and what you don’t see is as revolutionary as what you do. Majeau creates happy, summery wallets embroidered with cute octopuses and forest animals; purses that close with antique buttons and sport appliqués; and cheerful polka-dot bas. As well, she’s walking in the footsteps of the arts and crafts movement’s William Morris, and those of midcentury anticolonialist—and spinning-wheel enthusiast—Mahatma Gandhi. How? Yes, she makes bags, but in globalized Vancouver, that’s a radical act.

“There’s a whole craft movement coming on in North America, and it’s really exciting,” Majeau told the Straight in a phone interview, noting that Vancouver’s movement is simmering in places like Blim, Portobello West, and www.vancouvercraftmafia.com. “I think it’s because [of] the whole big-block stores, the Wal-Mart, and all of that,” Majeau said. “There’s just a hunger for something that’s made by a real person, and not by slaves in China or wherever.…Craft is something that’s been designed and made out of care and out of a lot of love and a lot of heart.”

Majeau, who is 29, recently transcended the workaday world in favour of the Gandhi-esque freedom of swaraj, or self-rule. She started her company Lemonade back in her hometown of Edmonton while she was working as a graphic artist—a natural extension of the illustration and graphic-design diploma she earned at Grant MacEwan College.

Having spent her childhood making stuff, she took a break in her teens and early 20s, only to find herself dreaming about making a purse—just to see if she could do it. She bought a sewing machine, created the bag, and started selling them at craft fairs almost immediately. Her cute, cotton, streamlined designs were a hit.

A year ago, Majeau quit her day job, feeling that she needed a change, and moved to Vancouver. Happier and “nicer” now, Majeau said she spends her days sewing in the tradition of her grandmothers and selling to grateful customers.

“In Edmonton, I had a younger market because there’s a lot of—I call them “oil babies”. Their parents had quite a lot of money. They’d come to craft shows with a wad of cash. Here, I have a more mature market—it’s nice and refreshing. It’s the woman who’s going out looking specifically for local design.”

How about the curious crafters who scope out Lemonade’s designs with the intention of replicating them at home?

“I see a lot of people do that,” she said of browsers at Portobello West. “They root through my bags and they root through my plushes [soft toys], and it doesn’t really bother me because it means I’m inspiring someone. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going out to start their own company. It means they’re going to go home and they make their nephew something, or they make their mom something, and I think that’s wonderful.”

Majeau would ultimately like to work in schools, teaching kids the aesthetic value of making things themselves. While she obviously didn’t start the modern craft movement, she feels like she’s helping it.

Lemonade is available at the Vancouver Art Gallery’s gift shop, Barefoot Contessa (3715 Main Street and 1928 Commercial Drive), Gingerly (11869 227 Street, Maple Ridge), Portobello West, and, starting in June, Shop Cocoon (3345 Cambie Street). Purses sell for $48 to $72. See www.thelemonadetree.com for more information.