Do you believe there is a demand for hand-made objects and work? Why do you
think that some consumers seek out these qualities in the objects they buy?
I think there always was a desire to buy hand-made products, but it seems last years the demand is higher and higher. People have more freedom to produce something and sell it via the internet. Hand-made is popular in these days. It is luring our senses, and we see the object in different view comparing it with the mass-produced object. I love a knitted blanket which was produced by my wife. No mass produced sheet can have the personal quality. Hand made means to have something original, an object around it was the master - designer dancing around and spent a time to produce something special. And those qualities are appreciated and searched.
Do you think the desire for hand-made products is based on a romantic
perception of the hand-made and a sense of ‘post-industrial nostalgia for the
pre-industrial’? Why or why not?
Yes, the romantic side is significant. Without this feeling, there would be no desire to own something which connects us with an object - time, memories, place, love, etc. Mass production brings an object for the consumer in the cheapest version without the "romantic quality", we all know it was produced by machines. We can afford something which was very expensive in the pre-industrial era. We would like to have something special - hand made and be proud of it that we owner of a unique piece of something which we can use forever (furniture in my point of view).
Do you feel that hand-made products are viewed as luxury or value-added
products? How do hand-made items compare with mass-produced items, in
terms of their value, life cycle, cost and ethics?
There are hand made products which are a luxury as a Swiss hand made produced watches for example. On the other hand, there are products produce for fun, just because there is a desire to produce them, it can be a gift, it could be sold, the value is not only "quality", but it is a personal connection. Mass production can bring luxury as well as value, no doubt, I have a watch of my grand father, and they were mass produced, the value of them on the market is nothing but for me, the objects are viewed in personal quality, and it does not matter if it was handmade or mass produced. Life cycle depends on the type of the objects, some hand-made products such as soap will be here for a moment, some others such as furniture can be here for decades. The cost is a relative point of view. Some can calculate the price in time, and other can value design or the usable quality. Hand-mad products are expected to be pricier.
Reflect on any hand-made item you own (not necessarily textiles). Can you
remember why you were drawn to it? Did the fact that it was hand-made make
it feel ‘special’ or did you just buy it because you liked the design? How did its
price compare with the industrially-produced equivalent?
I bought a small carpet in Tunisia just to have a reminiscence of that place. This object was perfect for it. It is hand-made carpet with certification, and I choose small one because the price for me in that time was affordable. If I compare price the price with mass produced carpet I could get 10x bigger carpet but it is a reminiscence of the place, and it fulfils it very great. It is a special carpet in that point of view, and our cat loves it. We do not know why if it is the softness of the material. Who knows.
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