Craftsmanship is: the graceful and methodical movement of hands; the occasional pause needed for hands and the head to work in unison; intense concentration to work out the intended product; and the inspiration and execution needed to generate a unique, handmade product.
If you have seen true artisans at work, you know what I mean! Craftsmanship can take one’s breath away and for that we ought to be thankful. It uses the soft power of the heart to imagine beauty. Then it applies the dexterity of hands and the mental power of the head to make beauty.
This imagination and application operate together and at once. Ultimately, craftsmanship’s combined imagination and execution moves us to marvel at human creation the same way the melody of classical music revives pangs of deep and heartfelt emotions within us. Artisans and their craft have long gladden our hearts. Come along to see how.
Last year, unbidden, I had an intriguing realization. I realized that the most personal service I received was from the artisans who fixed my motley of things - clothes, shoes, watches, bags - and in tiny places here and across our country’s southern border. In these small, almost nondescript places, I came across middle aged and older people like me. Invariably, we - that is, the willing customers and artisans – would have those unavoidable old-centric conversations. We would talk about our grown up children, recent deaths, the years of our youth and faith. With amazing sensitivity, the artisans always managed to indulge the chatter and banter while simultaneously attending to customers seeking their services. I couldn’t resist the urge to make a mental assessment of these encounters. Technology, modernized facilities and factory-like efficiency cannot replicate the relaxed atmosphere and serendipitous interactions that crafty people at their workplaces allow between themselves and their customers. This happenstance of ordinary life, reveals many truths. Stay with me for one such truth.
Becoming an accomplished artisan is not attained simply by one’s inveterate tinkering or flash of genius or a random application of their natural talent to conceive and invent. Rather, it is a vocation attained by training, hard work and commitment to a craft. This craft implicitly teaches artisans moral lessons about the value of work and mastery while giving them personal fulfillment. In the secular sense, this vocation is an innate talent by which one, through close attention, discovers their natural abilities. In the religious sense it is a silent calling, really a spiritual offer from God, for one to be what God has willed them to be. First as apprentices, then as journeymen, artisans follow, mimic and operate in the shadow of master artisans who impart their knowledge and skill to them until they too become masters. Thus their most frequent engagement is with the attainment of skill and mastery as it has been for millennia. This is a reminder that, for all the exultation that they may derive from their craftsmanship, an artisan’s life is still at the core, fidelity to lifelong learning, teaching others, gaining proficiency and artistry.
Along with learning from other artisans, craft people learn by using pencils, paper, chalk, books, and their tools - chisels, anvils, hammers, skiver, glue, sandpaper, tracing wheel, needles, nails, etc - and the raw material - wood, leather, metals, fabric, etc. Craft people’s employment of these everyday materials form a deep connection with us that is almost entrancing. They stretch and stitch leather into our apparel, weekender bags, briefcases and wallets and thus make them long lasting. They bend and shape wood into our furniture and homewares. They carve limestone into our decorative sculpture and ceramics by which we beautify our surroundings. They hit, twist and turn hot iron into products of masonry. And they repair our analog watches as tenderly and delicately as if their lives depended on the latter’s smallest bits and parts.
Craftsmanship allows artisans to begin anew, again and again. It does this by allowing what others have called “flow.” This is the experience of immersion where the artisan’s sense of self and time disappear and are replaced by his or her engagement in the task of craftsmanship. Whenever this happens, in any performance activity, we regard it as both fresh and arresting. And the finished products arising from that performance are valuable to both the artisan and the customer. They are valuable for their material properties but importantly, because of the artisan’s process, care and personal imprimatur that went into making or repairing them. Significantly, together with their customers, the artisans who make these merchandise and their customers seek to have the good life as defined by Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC). This is a life of meaning, sufficiency and fulfillment.
In craftsmanship, history repeats itself. There was a time before the late 1700s when there was a marked change from a handicraft and agrarian economy to one of machine and industrial manufacturing. We call this time the Industrial Revolution. Before that time, virtually everything useful for humanity was handmade, typically by one individual for herself or himself and others. Since there were no factories and assembly lines, nothing was mass produced and sameness in products made was rarer. In other words, since everything was made by craft, there was no reason to specify craftsmanship as an esoteric form of creation and invention as we do now. But because in small yet growing numbers, we are likely to prefer something that is made through craftsmanship (not necessarily 100% handmade), rather than one that is mass produced, a fledgling renaissance of crafts - in furniture, food, beverages, clothes, jewelry, and other personal items - is evident. The products in these categories result from the imagination and effort of one person or a few persons who are driven by quality, lasting appeal and the public interest. They are hardly driven by volume or sales or profit motives. We must thank crafty persons who by their actions point us to Aristotle's good life. We must also thank them that every day of our lives is a day in which we benefit from the grand amalgam of their labor of love with their dedication to their craft.
*Radipati is a regular Mmegi contributor
