The Big Idea

For a long time now, I have been thinking about the line between design and production.  It seems to me that today's buyers are primarily concerned with design, and not in the least concerned with craft.  It is a rare thing that one hears a consumer ask how, where, or by whom a product is made.  If it looks right on the shelf, in the catalogue, or on the website, they'll buy it.  This way of shopping ignores everything about the product after it leaves the drawing board, all of the important pieces of a product's creation that dictate its quality, longevity, and social impact.  Design is only part of the equation; American consumers need to tune back into craft.

Let me illustrate this need -- I have always loved the styling of J.Crew, but I’ve had some serious quality and fit issues with their clothes in the last year.  As a consequence, I began to read up on real clothiers: the kind that talk to you, size you up, help you pick out materials and stitch the whole thing together for you.  I ordered a custom dress shirt from Proper Cloth for the same price as a J.Crew shirt, and the results were astounding.  The material is much nicer, and I was able to choose it myself from a wide selection (after some background research); the shirt fits better than any I’ve ever worn before; the stitching is clearly of better quality than a stock J.Crew shirt, all of this because it was made (not manufactured) just for me (not all “medium” men in America).  Since then, I have been to a real brick-and-mortar tailor with results that impressed me even more.

I should have known this all along.  I was raised on the idea of craftsmanship.  I have always made things; my parents are both creative and skilled with their hands, so I would help them out as a child and pick little skills up along the way.  I was also raised to do things correctly and to the best of my ability, so I ought to expect the same from the people who make the things I buy.  The bottom line is, if something doesn't totally accomplish its function and do so for a reasonably long time, then it was not made correctly.  My experience with J.Crew and other high-design/low production-value companies have thoroughly convinced me that we as consumers must expect a higher level of craftsmanship in our purchases.  We can no longer live in a culture that produces ill-fitting clothes, boilerplate flatpack furniture, and prepared foods and then  expects us to throw them in landfills and buy more of the same.  If each of us takes our business to our local craftsmen instead of major manufacturers, we will be pouring money back into our own neighborhoods, establishing real relationships with the people who make things for us, and getting products that fit right, work right, last longer and cost less money in the long run that the low-quality, ill-fitting products we rely on today.

To go one step further, each of us can and should choose a skill or two and master it.  There aren't many true craftsmen left today, so we must become craftsmen ourselves.  We can make things for ourselves and our neighbors – our ancestors did with far more primitive technology.  That is the message of Matt Pierce at Wood and Faulk.  He has inspired me to begin to master my own crafts, and to support other craftsmen as they do the same.

With this blog, I hope to discuss and collect information on the objects of craft and their makers, and thereby develop and spread an ethic of craftsmanship.  Check back regularly for related links and stories, information about my work, and opportunities to engage in and support craft near you.