“The question is not -what does a man get for his work but; what does a man get by
working?”- Brian Keeble.
If an artist is asked why they paint, I imagine
the answer will be- “I paint because I have something to say, but not the words to say it”. But
when our craftsman were asked this very same question they said-“I create because I have never
known anything but to create, to use my hands and to better my skill.” The truth is that our
craftsmen say very much through what they create. Their work speaks of centuries of tradition,
of trade secrets passed down only from father to son and mother to daughter, and of a history of
a community that never recorded it any other way.
The world seemed to have forgotten the
artisans. Over 20 crafts have been recorded as either extinct or nearly extinct due to the
insatiable need that consumers have had for faster and cheaper products. Industrialization has
indulged this need and resulted in significant damage to the environment which many of these
craft communities depend on for the creation of their products.
The truth is that many of these artisans have suffered as a result of only knowing this one
skill. When the demand of craft products dwindled, the craftsmen had nowhere to go, and no
education to depend on. Craftsmen who work with jewelry often spend many years as an apprentice
before they are able to work on their own. These long apprenticeships and the low pay are not
inducements for the younger generation to want to learn this skill. Much like the consumers of
recent times, they want to progress faster and with much less effort, leading them to take up
jobs in factories. As craft communities traditionally pass down the skill only to their family
members, many of these trade secrets end up dying out.
So in a world that is
predominantly mechanized and digitized, why is craft important?
The truth remains that
artisan development will always be the first step in any kind of industrial development. The
relationship that a craftsman has with his material and his ability to understand exactly how it
works can never be replicated by a machine. A prototype can only be made by hand and that
particular human experience goes beyond the visual, the auditory and the cerebral. More than all
of this, craft serves as a reminder of what the world has been able to create and perhaps as
inspiration for what more it could. In a society overcome with redundancy, these objects remind
us of the passage of time.
Somehow, consumers still seem to be hungry for craft. They
seem to find refuge in working with their hands or even in knowing that their product has been
handmade. As a result several brands have taken to using craft elements in their collections.
The potential for the resurgence of craft feeds even into environmental sustainability and
ethical production.
Ivar by Ritika Ravi has always considered sustainability as a constant goal. One of the most
essential ways of ensuring sustainability is in the fact that the jewelry is made by artisans
who have honed their skills for generations. Handmade jewelry has always been a key element of
the brand, which serves as a tangible connection between the heritage of the past, the knowledge
of the present and hope for the future. As consumers have started to reassign the value of
goods, Ivar by Ritika Ravi too, values its jewelry as much for the quality of the craftsmanship
as for the stories that are attached to it. These products serve not only as beautiful
accessories but also as memories of a loved one, an exciting moment or as a marker of an
important event.
Many strategies have been discussed in bringing these crafts to life.
Financial incentives, intellectual property copyrights, crafts workshops and craft specific
markets are some of the few ways these traditional crafts could be introduced to the mainstream
consumer. However, the most important thing is bring awareness to the consumer of what craft is
and why it is important. They need to know that only craft can satisfy the maker with the joy of
the original rather than the press of a button for the copycat, and that it can serve as a link
to their ancestors in a way that most history books cannot. Perhaps it is even more important
for them to know that in a world filled with machines, humans are not obsolete.