Comments on: the artisanal movement, and 10 things that define it

By: Low Fidelity culture :: CultureBy – Grant McCracken

Low Fidelity culture :: CultureBy – Grant McCracken — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:45:26 +0000

[...] The Artisanal Trend and 10 Things that Define it. This Blog. November 6. here. Categories : [...]

By: Tito’s versus Sailor Jerry (new cliches in the world of marketing) :: CultureBy – Grant McCracken

Wed, 05 May 2010 18:18:45 +0000

[...] McCracken, Grant. 2006. The Artisanal Trend and 10 things that define it. This Blog. November 9. here. [...]

By: Janus Thinking

Janus Thinking — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 12:28:08 +0000

Beware Sham Connoisseurship

In our series so far on Connoisseurship, weve discussed the definition of connoisseurship (post 1), the aspects of an object the connoisseur engages with (post 2), and connoisseurship’s academic legacy (post 3). This post is about sham connoisse…

By: Chicago Home And Garden

Chicago Home And Garden — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 08:33:16 +0000

Chicago Home And Garden

But Verre Eglomise: is a stop in MSG, home to the Rom

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:08:12 +0000

I live in a strawbale-insulated, hand-cut timber-frame home, constructed by skilled people of whom many have become friends. In my experiences – living in a handmade home, eating off of pottery handmade by a neighbor, gathering to eat a common meal in my cohousing neighborhood, I feel I’ve gotten a glimpse of a more human-scale economy, and I’ve found it to be more meaningful and satisfying than my more anonymous transactions in “McWorld”. I hope the artisanal movement grows in an authentic way, in concert with the relocalizing of our economies as fossil fuels dwindle, to help undo the excesses of industrialization. Perhaps I’m being too earnest for the blogosphere – but I find it hard to be cynical about this important subject. Thanks for the list.

By: ellen

ellen — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 01:12:57 +0000

This is my first visit to the site… I believe that the artisanal movement is important not only because of the above but because of the importance of ‘making’ in all cultures. Also, while I don’t agree with a lot of marx (ore remember), the idea of alienation of labour that occurs when we cannot see the connetion between making (working) and product, contributes to a sense of psychological alientation from our labour. In craft tradtions (hence artisans) the materiality of the medium and hence the place are very important (eg ceramics and clay, carpentry and wood sources, food and ecology. Artisan is a reminder & manifestation of concreteness and sensuosness in a hyper post modern world full of abstractions (which is especially typified by most econcomic theory).

By: DC1974

DC1974 — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 12:22:13 +0000

In the cult of authenticity which has developed along with the industry, but there is a side issue of objectifying the laborer as an object of desire that predates this. The sexual idea of the “pure” artisan is perhaps what attracted masters to the slaves. William Morris is thought to have been gay and was greatly attracted to the aesthetics of the trade laborers’ physique.

By: Leon

Leon — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 03:55:12 +0000

Interesting indeed. A few years ago, I worked on bread and bakery products all over Europe.

A few added comments:
- bread is the Christian food by excellence (God did not multiply croissants).

- the baker is a sacred character, alchemist of pure and sacred elementals: cereals, salt, water and fire… no less.

- it was commonly thought in the past that each bread was different because the bakers were different: they did not smell the same…

- It is not surprising then that bread was actually one of first food to be touched by the return to traditional values, especially in countries where rurality is a deep cultural trait (ex.France)

- one could add cultural differentiations to the analysis (countries, Catholic/Protestant, etc) to get a better picture of the movement.

Good work…!

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 15:43:56 +0000

To one and all, these comments are, I believe, absolute proof that the purpose of This Blog Sits At… is to provide a nutrient rich broth of ideas for smarter, more interesting people (than me) to feast upon. Thank you. Best, Grant

By: Joshua Marchesi

Joshua Marchesi — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 13:30:12 +0000

Interesting post, but I wonder if there are key elements of how Artisinal movements function and how they begin that have been left out. Any Artisinal movement (and this really isn’t the first time this has happened historically) starts with a reaction to something that is perceived as “lost,” usually relating to individuality. Some fields (such as furniture or jewelry) have always been driven by the artisinal approach in the modern age, because of the impossibility of the extraordinary in a “manufactured” product. If everything is identical, nothing can be exemplary, no matter how good the base product may be. In a consumer society people are always driven to have something better than their peers, and a Tiffany necklace is always going to outrank something bought at the local chain jewelers, because Tiffany are perceived as artists, not craftsmen.

Which brings me to my second point: The root word in artisinal is ART. The desire for creating and/or experiencing art in people’s lives is, I would argue, inherent in the human condition, but understanding of what art is varies wildly from period to period. In a time when access to the arts is progressively more limited (cost, funding, proximity, changed educational priorities) and complexity is draining away from a lot of our art in the interest of marketability, people look for artistic experiences in other ways, consciously or not, and something that has traditionally been seen as a craft becomes an art form. The desire for artisinal products can thus stem from wanting something that is as much a piece of art as it is the actual product.

Does artisinal sea salt taste different than sea salt bought at the supermarket? Unless it’s flavored, probably not, but it was ostensibly created by someone who has dedicated their life to perfecting the art of creating sea salt. It is beautiful in a way that a box labelled sea salt on a shelf in a long aisle full of generic products will never be, and the person who spent hours sifting and drying it has had an experience that feels very similar to that of a visual artist.

Finally, while it is important to recognize that there are a lot of bandwagon artisans out there (including some major corporations who acquire or launch artisinal lines), the original impulse for this type of change in the market is a shortcoming in what is generally available. A good, crusty loaf of fresh baked bread DOES taste better than a slice of white bread; most (but definitely not all) organic foods DO contain fewer chemicals, trans-fats, empty calories and processed sugar; and vegetables picked ripe that morning DO taste better than something that ripened in the back of a truck on its way across the country. Who wouldn’t want to eat something that tastes better and is better for you?

The problem with any artisinal movement, then, isn’t that it is by nature pretentious or silly. It’s that the original reasons for desiring an artisinal product tend to get lost in the prestige of using them, and that any consumer movement that shows market viability tends to get absorbed into the mainstream and diluted.

Whew… All that made me hungry. Any one up for a baguette and some local goat cheese and apples?