craftsmanship, consumerism, virtue, privilege, and quality

You don't understand. Handmade is the name of my computer-operated lathe.

You don't understand, I mean handmade of death. My english is how you say inelegant.

my spoon is lathed out of human hands. HANDMADE.

I keep singing Soundgarden's "Spoonman" in my head but can't come up with an appropriately witty joke to go with that reference

so I'll just put it out there

There are lots of craftsman skills that would probably be helpful if the modern world suddenly came crashing to a halt, but I'll be the one laughing when I see Barnaby trying to whittle a spoon in the Thunderdome.

but you'll be laughing on the other side of your face when you find a yoghurt and have no way to eat it.

http://www.the-rudy.com/images/spoon_can-tee_f.jpg

not sure what the deal is with that but it seemed relevant

yes, that does say spoon

well, it's the canned hands that we'll use to carve our handmade spoons from after the apocalypse

I was looking for the Can album cover with the giant spoon rising into the sky but then I realized that was actually a wrench and I found that thing instead.

i can't really summon up the energy to dislike this tbh

also somewhat doubt one man can carve enough spoons even in a lifetime to make any serious effect on our co2 balance

otoh i saw artisanal fair trade condoms the other day, those seemed ridiculous

were they made out of wood?

I hope they were made of sheeps' guts and tied with a little knot at the ends.

okay they're not actually artisanal

Lovers of the World …. Welcome. You have arrived in the divine realm of the French Letter Condom Company, makers of the first FairDeal condoms for courageous creatures who care about FairPlay.
We know that French Letter customers are special. You care about protecting yourself and your partner by choosing our superb condoms, made in Germany to the most rigorous standards for safety and reliability.
You care about good taste, preferring our gorgeous jewel coloured packets to those other drab little boxes. With such pretty packs, you won’t mind keeping your protection on show.
And you care about your world. You probably stock plenty of FairTrade goods in your home already. Now you can enjoy FairPlay in the bedroom too. Because the natural latex used in every French Letter condom is harvested under sustainable and Fair Trade conditions. That means the rubber producers are paid a royalty to help improve their lives.
French Letter condoms source latex through FairDeal Trading, the only company in the world paying a Fairtrade premium for latex rubber. What to know what a difference using French Letter Condoms makes? French Letter Fair Deal condoms are for guilt free lovers who want to feel good in every way when they make love.

eventual ecological net loss, on account of the well intentioned but flimsy condoms inefficacy contributing to more humans/consumers/resource depletion

"The wearer will feel less guilty about exploiting rubber-workers, so he can focus more wholly on his guilt about penetrating another human being for his own pleasure"

been thinking a lot about the concepts of CRAFT and DESIGN, thinking about them as aesthetic values expressed through manufacture & consumption

the origin point of this line of thought is this chair

http://media-cache-ec5.pinterest.com/upload/162551867770585438_jycNLBYR_c.jpg

lounge rocker designed by vladimir kagan, with crewel embroidery by his wife erica wilson

would sit in

i think design and craft are, at best, inseparable and mutually informed by each other, but there is something interesting, to me, about the tension that can exist between the two

i think of 'pure design' as being rather conceptual in origin -- it starts with an idea and becomes manifest -- expressing a sort of top-down movement from idea to physical form, a sort of emanation from an ideal

whereas i'm thinking of craft moves in the opposite direction -- that it begins with the concrete, in specific materials, technologies, techniques, and procedures -- and seeks to provoke an aesthetic response out of the manipulation of these elemental components

this is by no means a developed argument, just thinkin baot thangs over here

you should talk with ari about this next time youre down here, she wrote her senior thesis about the development of the 'mid-century modern' aesthetic (in sweden specifically) -- ie "high design" -- as a nationalist gesture theoretically rooted in swedish 'craft' forms (a process that dates back to late 19th century in vackrare vardagsvara &c.)

one distinction might be that design is a kind of formal language and craft is about technical knowledge?

i'd definitely be into talking to ari about this stuff! i think it's interesting how certain elements of craft / craftsmanship associated with the MCM aesthetic are highly prized now -- woodworking, for example -- while others like fiber arts are not -- or if they are appreciated, it's as kitsch

it seems like "craftsmanship" is used to describe an inherent virtue of an thing, but to describe something as "looking like a craft project" is derogatory

i don't know if this distinction is gendered somehow but it might be??

heh i think its totally gendered

also relevant to my thinking about this is the fiber art of diane itter

http://www.imamuseum.org/sites/default/files/mars/82/8202ce20-b56d-49a9-bd0d-5c51d9fac4d1.jpg

these are entirely composed of linen thread, using only double half-hitch knots -- it feels, for me, like there is such a deep intimacy with the materials, it's really quite remarkable. the works are really quite small, but they are dense flat surfaces that clearly express these conceptual flights of color and pattern and movement -- clearly design! -- but the cascade of fringe reveals the elemental components of its crafting

I feel like "craft project" is an indicator of the "arts and crafts" hobby-horse junk that accompanies "crafting" magazines and indicates an amateur effort. Honestly, it makes me think of scrapbooking, which I tend to associate with suburban housewives.

If you speak to someone's craft, however, it's usually an expression of a skill in creating things, although not necessarily with a polished sense of design. There's a lot of hand-made, functional furniture or clothing that is extremely well-made, but not necessarily with a particular aesthetic. The design seems either cobbled together or inherited.

The combination of craft & design should be highly prized, imo. I love furniture and clothing that is very well-designed, but it's a lot more likely to be factory-made by non-artisans, even if the quality control is very high. I think bespoke suits are probably an example of excellent craft but little design, as many of them are tailored to a traditional template.

Then again, there are plenty of designs that aren't very good or are aesthetically unappealing.

http://macramecollective.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Diane-Itter-Peruvian-Split-detail-1983-knotting-linen-9x17.jpg

i'm just posting this detail of another itter piece because it just blows my mind.

tiny tiny knots! so so tiny

i don't necessarily think craft is incompatible with industrial process

or is it? it's a good question

I don't think it is! Many very skilled individuals work in industrialized industry, and it's a popular stereotype to think that the reason things are sewn/assembled in countries with much lower wages is due to a cheap, barely-skilled labor force and that americans may not want to do the work. In reality, it's often a highly-skilled labor force, especially for fashion labels with quality control.

I think you're right! and it's interesting how the same labor is privileged based on who the laborer is

i was thinking of Harris Tweed, the manufacture of which is largely automated, iirc, but a certain amount has to be performed by hand in a certain place (the outer Hebrides!) to receive the prestige of the Harris Tweed label

In furniture manufacturing, there's currently an interesting case where Herman Miller, who holds the official Eames stamp of approval and sells the branded products switched materials to manufacture the chair out of plastic, which they market as "true to the original, but with eco-friendly materials." Modernica bought some of the original fiberglass molds and sells a formed fiberglass chair that is virtually identical to the original product, but has to market it under a different name.

So, which is the "real" Eames shell chair?

I really need to drink more coffee and think as I type. The copy-editing on my posts is horrendous this week.

I feel like "craft project" is an indicator of the "arts and crafts" hobby-horse junk that accompanies "crafting" magazines and indicates an amateur effort.

see, i find myself totally charmed by some amateur works -- i have a a collection of crewel embroidery art, mostly thrifted, and my favorites aren't necessarily the ones that show the greatest technical skill. there's something about the care and intention that goes into it, even stuff that's obviously made from a pre-assembled kit.

also stuff like wonky student ceramics and paintings. not as a rule, really, but in some cases the lack of polish adds to its appeal, for me. i'm not going so far as to say any of this is 'folk art' -- because it's not, really -- but there something that feels (forgive me) sincere and honest about that sort of amateur work, in a way that highly skilled artworks don't always capture.

http://images.familyhomeplans.com/plans/91885/91885-B600.jpg

The scorn for crafting magazines and "scrapbooking" is totes gendered btw.

I could see that. I think I picked up the distaste from a graphic designer friend, but her feelings were probably more borne of professional disgust than the content therein.

I think there are man-targeted craft magazines, as well. As a kid I lived across the street from an editor of Wood magazine (small project magazine from same publisher as Better Homes & Gardens) and my dad definitely did a couple small projects. That stuff just doesn't do much for me, although it does involve honing particular skills.

Same publisher put out Readymade (now sadly defunct) which I did appreciate, but maybe because many projects were more of a functional bent? Less about making /things/ and more about making things your own.

There's a summer art festival here where a lot of artists from abroad come and show their sculpture/painting/photography and they have to have submitted portfolios, etc. it includes an area with up-and-coming local artists. The same weekend, the fairgrounds host an arts & crafts show where this is some reasonable stuff, some with as much effort expended but not as aesthetically "art show," in a sea of work. You can get some pretty amazing NASCAR-themed stained glass wall hangings and some intriguing wind chimes and dreamcatchers.

kept guiltily thinking of arts & crafts homes, glad tracer made that connection

heh heh

wood

in orbit reminds me I breezed over the original point which was yes, it's way gendered and comes down to "craft projects" are supposed to be the realm of hobby, and more specifically, the pastimes of women. Kind of an assumed ephemeral quality, as if neither art nor useful goods would come about, feeding back to an artificial limitation on what's actually made.

I think in 2012 there's still a crafting ghetto, but most homemade goods can fit into the market as equals, given the right marketing.

also, elmo re: your comment about stuff made from a kit or design at home, I know of a few vintage-styled stores who tread the legal line carefully on that issue when it comes to clothing. There's a pretty broad market for vintage clothing designs, and I believe if you know one's out of copyright you can create derivative works for sale, but buying a design, sewing it, and selling it outright is illegal. I knew someone who had to explain this regularly because she'd sew a dress, be complimented on it, and be asked why she didn't sell stuff.

it's way gendered and comes down to "craft projects" are supposed to be the realm of hobby, and more specifically, the pastimes of women

this is absolutely what i was getting at. there's definitely a gendered categorization to materials, i think. wood and leather and metal, then, are more masculine, while on the other hand, fibers and fabric and paper are seen as feminine -- but i think this also comes back around to the issue of durability and how it relates to perceived quality.

i mean yeah that's just your basic home economics vs wood shop gender binary stuff but

re: "craftsmen", i was reading a book on bargello needlepoint, the forward of which referred to someone as "one of the world's foremost needlewomen" and the term just struck me, NEEDLEWOMEN, i think it's an awesome word

Oh cool this thread is back! Good, seriously - this is always an interesting read