Is this utsushi? In the recent Western art world innovation and creative genius has been admired beyond all other attributes yet it is rare that it can stand alone without previously putting years in to mastering technique. Often we feel we are admiring genius but in fact it is as much the mastery that is impressive. If we look at…
I want to talk a little about simplicity. It is something that has always been important to me but today’s thoughts were set off by a friend Steve Tomlin who carved this spoon. “I tried to get back to simplicity.” I used to collect quotes which inspired me in my reading and write them up on posters on my wall.…
I just discovered this online and would like to share. I can’t find the whole thing anywhere so there are a couple of clips followed by an interview with the guy who made them. I particularly like the second short “parable” clip. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v1I1Mdwvxk] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ7ei9SY714] And here is Saul on making money vs making things beautiful. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfDCNpaPBiA]
I think it is common for craftspeople to have very ambivalent feelings about selling their work. On the one hand it can be a wonderful experience when we meet someone who really apreciates what we are doing and will enjoy the objects we make, on the other it can leave us feeling cheapened, as if our work has been turned…
Here are a few quotes from an important speech given the the Royal College of the Arts yesterday, I am so excited by it, much of it could be the Heritage Crafts Association manifesto, our message is clearly getting through. “Show me a society where everyone has the opportunity and the desire to seek out new knowledge and new skills…
It seems to me that as a society we are very confused about how we regard our physicality. In the past we had the Protestant work ethic which made hard work a moral and spiritual duty whether you liked it or not. William Morris in his Utopian novel News from Nowhere argued that there should be pleasure in hard work,…
