The process of mechanization of production is slowly replacing craftsmen. Small businesses are slowly closing down. A few craftsmen survived and they don`t have successors. Goods made by craftsmen are getting more expensive. But the work of craftsmen is hard. Will these trades die out?
Shoemaker.
Usually we associate a shoemaker only with shoe repair. A few people think about hand-made shoes. In Poland there are only few of them. The number of shoemakers has been decreasing all the time. It is a trade which runs in the family. Will big shoe stores replace a shoemaker?
A little about handcraft shoes.
Shoes are made to measure. First, the measure is taken, then the shoemaker's hoof is created. The color and material of the shoe are selected individually. Then a shoemaker can start sewing a shoe.
Carving.
A sculptor in stone and wood. I personally saw only a few sculptors. True works of art we replace with plastic stuff. Hardly anyone buys those things.
Gunsmith.
Usually we associate this profession only with plastic guns. Nowadays the manufacturing of weapons is a mass production process but a few people want to have a unique gun. They know that you can have your own gun project made.
A gunsmith artist creates shotguns. Every element of a weapon is decorated. All of them are hand crafted and designed. Those weapons are being used in historical reconstructions. They look beautiful. They are as good as mass-produced weapons.
Sources:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.538306916219722.1073741828.538205016229912&type=1
http://ginace-zawody.pl/
http://www.wdrugiejskorze.pl/tadeusz-januszkiewicz-zamowienie-czarnych-oksfordow/
Presently I have observed two parallel trends - buying in the retail chains and purchasing everything that is personalized and unique.
ReplyDeleteWhile referring to shoemakers, in my case it is one of the most important old professions. Personally I have problem with buying shoes in shopping centers because of the size and orthopedic problems. In fact they are pretty expensive, albeit their viability lasts much longer then those which I have bought in the shopping mall.
Speaking of carving I had opportunity to see drilling in wood done with special knives, though I regret that I have not seen the whole process from the very beginning to the end.
With reference to gunsmith I am not huge fan of guns and their decoration, but probably the most important factor for buyer still will be price.
Sadly I guess that old professions will sooner or later extinct.
Still, I think that all of them are needed, at least now, when still there does not exists machines that will repair products as, for example, service technician can do.
That would be a big shame if those kind of professions would exctinct. I hope they will not, because I think that things which are made in factories in enormous quantity just don't have a soul and they seem to be less valuable. But i also think that beacause of factory made thing, they beacame cheaper, so more people that are not wealthy can afford to have some prosaic things like chair or a table.
ReplyDeleteStill, going back to the topic I really wish that old professions will never lose their place, beacause every thing made by someone hand made will have more value and history and this so called soul.
The process of mechanization of production isn't surprising to me. Decreasing number of craftsmen may seem sad, but there's also other side of the coin - the less craftsmen there are, the more valuable their items become :) I'm interested in corsetry and I notice this trend really often - mass-production is cheap, but the quality isn't good, so more and more people search for hand-sewn corsets. I guess this works in many fields - when people become disappointed with mass production, they switch to good quality items.
ReplyDeleteI think the main problem is price, as Karolina mentioned. I would love to support talented artists and craftsmen, but I simply couldn't afford buying every item from a craftsmen.
It would be really shame that some of this professions would disapear . Handmade work is so beatifull and orginal. In our age we don't emotionally attach to things.
ReplyDeleteIf something break we definitly will throw it away because it is too expensive and it cheaper to buy new one.
I agree with Weronika Chmielewska. Orginal work has soul and "that something" special inside.
Handmade things are more valuable then mass produced things. You can see that difference especially in clothes.
In my opinion nowadays people would rather throw away broken things than to spend money on fixing them and a lot of the times they're right because often cost of fixing something is greater than cost of buying a new item. My grandparents had the same washing machine, watches, radios for years and years but I think that some things are just worth repairing and some aren't. I still take my favorite shoes to a shoemaker to fix my heels, as I child I had to have my shoes specially made for me (orthopedic shoes) and I still take my watch that I've got about 17 years ago to a watchmaker. I think these two professions might be at the biggest risk of going out of business but they still have got a few good years to come. We stopped repairing electronics and it's just cheaper to buy a new printer or an iron than to fix them but instead we are spending money on replacing our phone and tablet screens. I guess that the idea is that if something will get cheap it will be more cost-effective just to replace it with a new piece. People stopped making photos with old cameras and don't bring them for developing but photographers shops still exist, they sell things, they make photos for documents and special occasions. I agree with Karolina that these professions will probably become extinct but I think rather later than sooner because people are still just too get used to them.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't consider a sculptor to be a craftsman but an artist. Buying sculptures maybe isn't very popular but this is definitely a product that should be one of a kind and nobody wants to buy a sculpture in Ikea because a sculpture should be a piece of art. There are many famous sculptors in the world and I think and I hope that they'll continue to create.
A gunsmith is a pretty interesting craft, I'm not a fun but you are right that old weapons can look beautiful. But I feel that this is not that popular of a hobby (I'm sure it's more popular than gathering sculptures ;) but everybody wear shoes and only a few percent of the population own guns). I think that buying old fashioned weapons can be a hobby and buying new plastic guns is just a way of getting a tool for a certain task - hunting, "protection" etc. . I personally don't approve of people who own guns and I think that they should at least be toughly examined mentally if they really want to get a gun. But anyway if someone owns an old gun, it would be a lot harder to use it against somebody and it's just a cool interest to have.
Today hand-made products are considered as something exclusive and the most are. In time of mass production when may products broke down before 2 years, old proffesions like shoemaker or gunsmith look like island in the ocean of trashes. That products often are very expensive, but we can personalize i.e shoes and get quality which couldn't be compare with mass production. I know that some proffesions will be forgotten but always be a place for people who make that "work of art".
ReplyDeleteOur economy is based on consumption and if in future will remain the same profession of craftsman will disappear. In our times we get used to cheap products created in mass production and we usually choose that kind of product because most of us can't afford to buy hand-made items. Hand-made items are better than items from mass production but it's like adam kaliński said " old professions like shoemaker or gunsmith look like island in the ocean of trashes".
ReplyDeleteCraftsman professions are usually inherited from father to son and in our times most of young people rather prefer to do something else than their parents. This may cause big problem in surviving in future. Another problem for craftsmans is impovment of technology probably in future it will replace all craftsmans like it was with other proffessions. I think that if nothing change all craftsman profession will disappear.
It's quite sad, but I think not many people go to the shoemaker these days. We live in a consumption society, where it's way easier to go to the shop and buy brand new pair, than going to the shoemaker and repairing old shoes...
ReplyDeleteYou are writing about making a shoes by shoemaker. Yeah, that seems to be quite interesting thing, but I guess they are rather expensive. And I am afraid many people prefer to buy designers shoes, that are fashionable, made out of good material (but yeah, they are not hand-made)
These days aren't good for small companies, not to mention unical trades, which have dangerous contact with mass production.
ReplyDeleteOur markets are being flooded by masses of counterfied and poor quality products. I really wish someday will be a need to own reliable, one of a kind products, but sadly I'm not an optimistic. Society likes to buy cheap and fast. Sculptors, shoemakers or maybe gunsmiths, they should find solution in adaptation to actual trends. Maybe connection old crafts and new design is a good idea?
I hope they won't disappear completely, but as the name suggests old trades are, well, old. They're a thing of past, less and less important in a contemporary world with all the machines around that do the job. We're accustomed to cheap products and want to get them as fast as possible. Hand-made things, on the contrary, take considerably more time to create and usually require better materials, craftsman's experience as well. This makes hand-made products expensive, a luxurious goods even.
ReplyDeleteI believe we still need old professions. If not for their original purpose, then as a form of art and a way of preservation of knowledge that, who knows, may become crucial in the future.
I can agree with Aneta. People buy things from brands that they know it or at least heard about it. Nowadays small businesses is difficult to stay on the market.
ReplyDeleteWell, to be honest I still use a shoemaker's trade skills. I prefer to repair rather than throw away and buy new ones.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hands, trades like these will cease to exist very soon as the society of XXI tends to buy a lot of cheaper things rather than just a few of the "good" ones (women looking at You right now). But hey, who cares right? We're all buyers in this little game.
Natalia, you would be surprised ! I visited a shoemaker recently exactly to repair my shoes. But I have to admit It was the only visit I paid the shoemaker in last 10 years. It all comes down to economy. At some point manufacturers realized it is more profitable to mass-produce cheaper product that are designed to last only a precisely defined amount of time and teach the consumers: "don’t repair, buy a new one". It is an industrial term: " planned obsolescence"
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I was absolutely amazed by the photo of the rifle hand-made by a gunsmith. I suppose it would cost about as much as a cheapest new car to have such piece of weaponry custom-made to order :)