Design vs Craft

Happy Friday everyone!

I know I told some of you that there would be a big exciting announcement today but unfortunately it has to wait until next week – I promise – the suspense is worth it!

This Saturday we will be attending the Tamaki Christmas Market from 9am to 1pm – it’s their last market of the year and should be a goodie! It’s located out near Mission Bay – a great location for a sunny Saturday stroll. So if you’re looking for something to do, make sure to pop along and say hello (eftpos machines will be onsite)!

This week instead of a roundup I thought I would share an article that I wrote yesterday for Design Assembly. This topic is most likely very close to your hearts and would love to know what you think!

Have a great weekend!

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What makes design so hip and craft so unfashionable? Is design a term used just for the cool kids?

Craft, more often than not, has a bad reputation. If a stranger asks you what you do for a living – do you say that you’re a designer or a craftsman? Where do we draw the line? Most designers are both. They plan out a design and then execute the end product. So again, why does craft have a bad reputation?

Lucy Arnold is the founder and graphic designer behind Board of Design – she is also the founder of Felt, an online marketplace for handmade goods. Arnold has shared some of her thoughts on the matter, “ I’ve been thinking about craft pathways – how craft is so accessible but there’s no quick way to be awesome at it. Which I think is maybe part of the reason it gets a bad name. People want instant gratification, whereas craft is a long slow learning process. If you cut corners in that process, it shows in the end product – and with the internet now, we get to see the whole spectrum… it’s not selective.”

Justin McGuirk from The Guardian states, “It seems no magazine about material culture, from Monocle to Inventory, is complete these days without a behind-the-scenes story on a little-known clothing or furniture brand featuring people in leather aprons and workbenches strewn with chisels and offcuts. There’s nothing new about the kind of products these studios create. What’s new is the desire to reveal the process and not just the finished object. These are not-so-subtle messages reasserting the value of the handmade over the machine-made.”

Still unclear whether to call yourself a designer or craftsman? Maybe this video will help:

I am proud to call myself a graphic designer and a craftsman. I come up with ideas, sketch them, analyse them, and test the market. But I also work with my hands everyday (away from a computer). I take great pleasure in making things with my hands and get a certain satisfaction that can only be achieved when creating something unique.

Crafts are often associated with “arts and crafts”, which is often associated with goods of low quality or skill (kindy). However when you break those two words down “Art” and “Craft”, it speaks of a high level of skill. At the end of the day design is a craft. There are good and bad designers out there; those who are good at their craft, excel in their field. An Artisan or Craftsman is someone who is a master of their given skill.

Be proud of what you do and the skills you have.