Within the Conversation with Crafts

By Harsh Bhavsar

Craft Processes, Collaboration and Cultural Perceptions

Craftsmanship is the worker’s freedom ‘‘to control his own action. The craftsman is thus able to learn from his work; and to use and develop his capacities and skills in its execution.’’

Excerpted from the book White Collar (1956); page 220, C. Wright Mills.

The more time one spends in the process of making, more he gets involved in the pursuit of the perfection of one’s own self. While observing the chisel (with every blow from the mallet) cutting through the log of wood with such precise direction, and the movement of the hands holding it into place with an urge to bring the timber to some form, one gets involved deeply, one becomes the tool itself; it is in this moment one attains the position of an artisan or a craftsman. Though the act of ‘making’ involves certain achievable tangible goals, the crafts themselves are oriented towards one’s own self; self-consciousness.

Looking at the craftsman carefully dipping the tied cloth into the naturally prepared dye (here indigo) and waiting for it to soak the colour; then patiently letting it drip, till it becomes dry enough to untie and reveal what wondrous patterns lay within the folds, it tells us how religious or spiritual this activity is. There is a constant expression of nature infused from the vague memories of the past, while one is in this subconscious state of mind; a momentary trance; with nothing around you, but just the presence of the eyes and hands, an interplay with the materials.

The narratives of the household left behind, the place where one belongs to, the people around him and the present situation, all diminish when one is involved in the manifestation of an idea into the material product. The forces around the hands and eyes, are translated into a playful display of skill every time one is at work. A sense of satisfaction is in the transmission and contribution of the skills and knowledge inherited over the years. The effort is made not to leave a footprint, but to achieve an equilibrium in one’s own cultural elaboration; harmony.

The distance one travels cannot be measured in miles, instead in the celebration of ones attempts to do better, into the ways of exploring, learning and scratching the way through. When the eyes see the brush moving on the canvas, making coloured twists and turns, stroking away, it’s not mere coincidence, but a story being told with the brush as the body itself; a metaphor. The calculated decorations one makes collaborating with other hands and eyes, are the supreme examples of the materials explored to their maximum potential properties. The movement of material from its raw state to the objectified products isn’t a mere coincidence or mere demand; it is the act of ‘form finding’ every time a craftsman is at his place of work. The material innovation is not necessarily associated with the emotions, instead with the solutions towards making of the newer paradigms.

The language of craft that one identifies is in the daily act of participation, and not just in books. The meaning of this time, for a craftsperson is more surreal than being from a daily routine. A craftsman in his workshop, a craftsman at his home, a craftsman in a different scenario have the same basic needs; it is his skill that keeps him going. One does follow a regime of tasks in order to make the ends meet. But, when he is at work the sensations are profoundly woven with the act of making. It is not where they are and what it feels to be there, it is discovering the meaning of the material, and finding one’s own self.

The craftspeople, don’t place themselves above or below, in the society, it is the social and cultural structure that gives them a ‘position’. The description of each act as a craft, is not just in the material and its products, but in the act of ‘making’ and ‘involvement’. The shine, one can see in the eyes of a craftsperson while he is working, the behavioural lift while he is in the act defines the conversations of crafts;

Between the group of craftsmen

Between the craftsman and his disciple

Between the tool and the material

Between the hand and the eyes.

“As practice, craft entails not only the acquisition of deep knowledge and skill, but also a transformative dialogue between thinking and doing, a dialogue driven by the problem-finding and problems-solving inherent in complex, variable work.”

Excerpted from the paper “In Search of Craft”, Social Psychology Quarterly Vol. 73, No. 2, page 109, Michael Schwalbe.

For Sennett, the craft ethic entails commitment to honouring the human desire to make things well and ‘‘do a job well for its own sake.’’

Excerpted from the introduction to the book “The Craftsman" (2008); page 9, Sennett.