Handmade Today!
YIZU MAGAZINE
The definition of “handmade” states: “made or prepared by hand rather than by machine”.
However, thinking deeper on the concept, we can honestly say that isn’t totally correct, and the boundaries of this definition have been already crossed. Don’t you think?
You may think: “Well yes, but it is a detail, of course, we need to use some tools!”
But then, let’s agree, that the definition of handmade should be slightly modified.
I did not say that to be controversial but simply to show you, how sometimes things are taken for granted and they move around technicalities.
In the history of humankind, countless tools have been discovered and collected in museums and presented through books, fairs, photos, cinema, etc (based on the period). Consequentially, we learned from those discoveries and further developed those tools to create more advanced and refined technological support for our work.
In our mind, EVERTYHING was handmade/handcrafted until the Industrial Revolution, which took place in the 19th century, and then, as we know, factory systems and machinery replaced most of the human handwork and took charge of creating most of the goods, because evolution doesn’t stop and consumerism is a phenomenon that somehow was and still deeply witching us.
Ready-to-wear “helped” the middle and lower classes to get closer to the upper class since they were the only ones, who could honestly afford well and refined tailored made goods.
People were and are buying more and more mass-produced items, and this, makes us look like “WE” are made in stock too.
We became the same as what we buy. With all this abundance of mass-produced products, comes a loss of individuality and quality, we turn same and identical to one an another…and that’s why handcraft/handmade is one of the antidotes to this “ disease”, and that’s why more and more consumers are turning to it.
This social trend is similar to the original Arts & Craft Movement, present as well in the 19th century, followed by Art Nouveau. Both were a reaction versus the Industrial revolution, since a high aesthetic of design and handcraft were the guidelines of them, “ to save” people from “ugly and “soulless” goods.
Nowadays, modern technology is not rejected from these niche markets, on the contrary, It is used by designers, crafters, artists,… in their favor.
Consumers, now have access to unlimited information and products, what they need is just patience, and with that, any craftsmanship or one-of-a-kind piece could be found on the internet.
This is a bright side, the possibility for a handmade product to be discovered and shipped worldwide was not existing in the pre-internet/social media era.
Nevertheless, online communities have been created by crafters and artists who share knowledge, along with creating workshops and courses for the ones who would like to get closer to these unique markets.
Craft is irrevocably part of the design because through that you learn and understand how it works, and how it is really made.
You know the soul of it, you know every single aspect, the beautiful and not.
And basically, without even realizing it, you fall in love with it, as you do with someone.
In conclusion, no matter how consumers get overwhelmed by mass-produced goods, a part of them crave for something more, for something that reflects their desires in a more personal and meaningful way.
Handmade will always have a place in this world because it is simply rooted in who we are and how we see the world, craft is the result of creativity.