Why make things, why handmade?
Why make things handmade?
I came across the phrase "bespoke goods." Bespoke is a word you don't hear very much any more, it's old English word and it has an interting connotation. Loosely translated it means to speak about something, to claim it, and to make arrangement. So when you bespeak, you claim something, or you make arrangements for it. Bespoke is something you've made arrangement for prior to receiving the thing, it is custom made.
When you see the word bespoke, or you hear it said, the context may seem a little pretentious. (Mostly because very few use it anymore). Or you think of something that is made for those who are well to do. And so bespoke goods tend to have that air about them. Really, in the sense of the word, it need not be, it just means custom made.
When I think about the word bespoke, I think about something that is custom made, that is hand made just for you.
So why hand made?
I recently received in the mail, some metal paper cutting dies. No doubt, they were machine made, and mass produced for sale to a wide market area. What came to my mind is the properties of metal, cool touch, cookie cutter, impersonal. The die will give me the same item every time I stamp it. Which is fine, but when you think about it, there is nothing of the individual in that particular die, There is nothing of the maker or the recipient in it.
But when I finish what I am making, the impersonal becomes personal. Not only will there be something of my self in my item, but a part of who it is intended for is expressed in the final product.
Backing up a bit, when I am just making for making sake, experimenting, there's a part of me inside of it. Sometimes I have a hard time completing it, deciding on dye colors or patterns, because there is no intended person on the other end.
However, when the item is bespoke, when there is some type of custom or arrangement, knowing who it's for, it becomes a reflection of the maker and the recipient. It's a whole different feeling. No matter how many time I make the same thing, using the same pattern and materials, no one is ever exactly the same. In opposed to the cold metal tool that will stamp out the same thing every time.
The handmade item has a warm, human element to it, and each one will be different, depending on the personality and mood of the maker and the personality of the person to whom it is bespoken. That warmth, that humanity, that connection is why I believe in handmade.
I came across the phrase "bespoke goods." Bespoke is a word you don't hear very much any more, it's old English word and it has an interting connotation. Loosely translated it means to speak about something, to claim it, and to make arrangement. So when you bespeak, you claim something, or you make arrangements for it. Bespoke is something you've made arrangement for prior to receiving the thing, it is custom made.
When you see the word bespoke, or you hear it said, the context may seem a little pretentious. (Mostly because very few use it anymore). Or you think of something that is made for those who are well to do. And so bespoke goods tend to have that air about them. Really, in the sense of the word, it need not be, it just means custom made.
When I think about the word bespoke, I think about something that is custom made, that is hand made just for you.
So why hand made?
I recently received in the mail, some metal paper cutting dies. No doubt, they were machine made, and mass produced for sale to a wide market area. What came to my mind is the properties of metal, cool touch, cookie cutter, impersonal. The die will give me the same item every time I stamp it. Which is fine, but when you think about it, there is nothing of the individual in that particular die, There is nothing of the maker or the recipient in it.
But when I finish what I am making, the impersonal becomes personal. Not only will there be something of my self in my item, but a part of who it is intended for is expressed in the final product.
Backing up a bit, when I am just making for making sake, experimenting, there's a part of me inside of it. Sometimes I have a hard time completing it, deciding on dye colors or patterns, because there is no intended person on the other end.
However, when the item is bespoke, when there is some type of custom or arrangement, knowing who it's for, it becomes a reflection of the maker and the recipient. It's a whole different feeling. No matter how many time I make the same thing, using the same pattern and materials, no one is ever exactly the same. In opposed to the cold metal tool that will stamp out the same thing every time.
The handmade item has a warm, human element to it, and each one will be different, depending on the personality and mood of the maker and the personality of the person to whom it is bespoken. That warmth, that humanity, that connection is why I believe in handmade.
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