Business

Crocheting, life-coaching from a park bench

By Laiba Lakhani

At 9 o’clock on most mornings, he said, Bob Matthews sits on the same bench in Washington Square Park, just northeast of where the park’s stone walkway veers toward West Fourth Street. 

He pulls his pink and green needles from the crocheted hat, made from recycled material, covering his dreadlocks. 

“Crochet is life,” said Matthews, beginning another recent workday as the founder and sole employee of Roots Craft.

Founded in 2012, Roots Crafts’ products range from hats to shirts to bags, made from materials he buys from local yarn shops and online retailers. Online is where such social media influencers as Bella Hadid, the famous model, who has 53.7 million followers, sport what they’ve bought from him. 

On Instagram, Hadid promotes her followers to purchase products from Bob, “please go meet Bob at the exit of Washington Square park !”, Hadid says in an Instagram post, “ The talent is unmatched and these hats are made with much love.” Matthews was not aware of Bella’s fame at the time of her purchase on June 5, 2022. But now, he says people from England have made purchases from her posting, “one person makes a huge difference”, he says.

Another Instagram influencer, Irmak Bayur, who has 1,087 followers says, “With everything that [Bob] does,” she told The Spectrum, “nothing is the same. Everything is individual and it’s just incredible.” 

“Bob really is the reason why I learned crocheting. He’s a big inspiration to me and my small business,” says Beth Celeste, owner of the Ugly Petal, an instagram crochet shop.  

Celeste has yet to meet Bob in person but was inspired by his work featured on Instagram.

Matthews taught himself to crochet, mainly by watching online videos of right-handed crocheters. As a lefty, he had to invert all the videos he watched to learn crochet patterns.

Bob’s range of products on July 24, 2022. Pictured are his colorful hats.

He uses several types of crochet patterns across his products, he says, “I think crochet is the most versatile thing there is, there’s nothing like it.”

Similar to the craft, Mathews himself is incredibly versatile. He is a jack of all trades. “Before I was in a health food store, I help people out with their health, I help them heal themself, but this, this, took over me right now,” said Matthews.

He also calls himself a life coach, given that he dispenses advice from whoever seems to need it, while he sits on that park bench.

His hats, he said, can’t talk, of course. But they have a way of imparting wisdom to the people who wear them. “This, this is more than healing, this is therapy”.

Everything he crochets is special to him, he said. 

His future goal for the company is to scale it large enough to afford a storefront. Despite that, he remains certain that success isn’t measured by how many products he sells in one day, but by how happy his work makes others feel.