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Chapter 3 THE MEANING OF MAKING II: Craft Today

In the eighteenth century, ‘craft’ referred primarily to political cunning and a sly, jocular, tricksy approach to social issues.1 At that point, though, craft was not associated with any particular methods or objects, and could be applied to any cultural practices.3 During the nineteenth century, the notion of ‘craft’ or a ‘craftsman’ appeared even less often, remaining pretty dormant until the last quarter of that century, when it sprang into action.4

ideological van Paul Greenhalgh

• decorative art - ‘applied’ forms of creativity, second-class feeling of being excluded from the category of ‘fine art’

• the vernacular - (volkstaal) unselfconsciously communicated through everyday things that people have made

• politics of work - the actual crafted objects become secondary to the broader ideals about the conditions in which they are made.

Arts and Crafts was first used in this context in 1887 this movement built on the ideas of Ruskin and Morris in different ways, but central to the movement was the idea that all creative work was of equal status, and was the means by which human beings could connect with nature, with their own sense of self, and with other people.

Paul Greenhalgh: The vernacular was the model, unalienated work was the means and art was the goal.

The vernacular Vernacular or vernacular language is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, especially as distinguished from a literary, national or standard language, or a lingua franca used in the region or state inhabited by that population. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernacular

Gustav Stickley

Gustav Stickley, a furniture maker, craftsman, and architect, based in New York. From 1901 to 1916, Stickley published a magazine called The Craftsman, which began as a US-based expression of the British Arts and Crafts movement – launching with detailed discussions of the life and work of Morris & Ruskin. In zijn eerste versies in iedergeval, maar na verloop van tijd kwam dit tot een duidelijke eigen Amerikaanse versie van deze filosofie.

Stickley invented, or rather revived, the concept of ‘open source’ – the system by which software developers today share unprotected code in the belief that others should be freely able to use it and improve it.

- http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opensourcesoftware

- http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source

Deze democratische benadering is het meest consistent met de idealen van de Arts and Crafts-beweging: ambachtelijke vaardigheden waren gewaardeerd om hun eigen zorgvuldige, individuele, handgemaakte schoonheid, en niet omdat ze werden verondersteld om de vaardigheden van een expert te zijn.

William Morris werkte tot een zeer hoge standaard, want dat gaf hem voldoening, en omdat hij dacht dat de zorg en de kwaliteit van de huidige productie ook genoegen zouden brengen aan anderen. Echter maakte hij deze zeer hoge staande producten niet om zich beter te laten voelen dan andere.