What a word: Artisanal. Artisan. Artist. .... The article in today's New York Times Style section, by Tim McKeough, page D4, is entitled "Artisanal Treasures" and subtitled "Valuing the personal in an era of mass production". Yes! Amen and Hallelujah! Not a concept as compelling as it should be today, especially in this down economy.
"Valuing the personal" -- knowing that an artist's eye was captured by the materials and compelled to create from them; knowing that an artist's hands produced the treasure, rather than a machine; knowing that the treasure is a unique object -- perhaps one-of-a-kind or of limited production -- rather than having been mass produced.
The profiled entrepreneur, Stephen Burks, begins by saying: "Modern manufacturing processes are good at churning out one identical product after another. But shoppers in search of a little more character are increasingly drawn to objects handmade by artisans around the world." Are you in search of “character” in what you buy?
Each piece of jewelry I produce is personal, each has a history of some sort, each piece is handmade painstakingly -- an investment of time and love. Everyone asks how long it took me to make the statement piece "Be Mine" (http://www.msturman.com/collection/0671.htm)-- but how can I begin to quantify the wealth of energy and commitment, no less the pleasure, inherent in its creation, or the ease of simply wearing it with something simple and black and standing out in the crowd? I assure you: I did not churn it out.
Mr. Burks continues to talk about treasures “having that immediacy of making, and that direct connection to people and community groups” – isn’t that what we are searching for these days with our Facebook and Twitter postings and connections? So why not in the treasures that we buy, wear or live with?
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