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The Beauty of a Handcrafted Object

Impact of Arts and Crafts Movement

Hand-craftsmanship and individual creativity are the basis of the Art and Crafts movement, which sparked in nineteenth century Britain during a time of increased industrial production and technological advancements. Practitioners of this movement believed that designing objects with slight imperfections yet elaborate detail, like a handcrafted calendar, was worth more than mass-produced calendars made by machines. The rarity associated with these one-of-a-kind items corresponds with an increase in value that is unmatched by the value created with machines. For example, an object that holds tremendous sentimental and handcrafted value is a beautiful, one-of-a-kind, advent calendar (fig 1). This piece focused on having one individual designing and executing the work, their joy in expressing their work, and the choice of soft materials appropriate to the object’s function as a kid’s toy. Ultimately, many objects show these tenets in an effort to demonstrate that society should not stray from these ideals associated with hand-craftsmanship.

The advent calendar encapsulates many of the ideas mentioned previously. For example, because it was both designed and made by Carolyn Jensen, a close family friend who gave this to my family as a gift, it demonstrates unity of craftsman and designer. She thought out the design for the base of the calendar but also the special designs for the individual pieces as well. Then she constructed the calendar out of various colors of felt, sequins and stuffing, with a wooden dowel at the top to hang the final product. This emphasized truth to materials because she used materials appropriate to the function and audience of her piece. The overall purpose of the calendar was to keep track of the days leading up to Christmas in an interactive way that was kid-friendly. Therefore her choice to use felt, as a soft material, was a wise decision. She also decided to use a repetition of the same seven colors to make the calendar cohesive and tie in with the holiday motif. She used white, black, blue, red, green, yellow and beige to construct the background of the calendar as a plush looking Santa Clause with an open bag ready to be filled with toys. At the base of the calendar are 24 slots also made out of white felt with red sequined numbers attached to them; this is the interactive countdown aspect of the calendar. Also, here in lie the individualized toys each with their own personality but the same set of colored felt and sequins. Although the form of this calendar is generally flat and rectangular the intricate details of the toys such as the tin soldier and the train add depth, movement and reinforce the theme of the overall piece. Carolyn truly put love, time and effort into her work just for the joy of seeing a beautiful final product, which illustrates another tenet of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Although this piece was not entirely hand made it still appears that way because of the slight imperfections in the stitching and sewing of some of the toy pieces. Even though Carolyn designed and constructed the major parts of the calendar, she did not take part in the making of the felt or the other materials she used. Therefore, machines did have a small part in the construction of this piece but it does not significantly lessen the value of the piece overall because the majority of the piece was handcrafted. The machine could not have added the personal touches that Carolyn did, which adds an important sentimental value to the calendar. It also can never be made in such a way again which adds a cultural and social value. Similar advent calendar kits can range anywhere from $20-30$ depending on the complexity. However, Carolyn’s calendar capitalizes on safe yet visually pleasing materials and a one-of-a-kind holiday design with intricate pieces, which is why it would probably be priced in a range of $40-$50. The expertise needed to construct a piece this detailed puts it ahead of other competitors.

Today, consumerism is a leading factor in how and why certain products are made. Artists and designers today utilize this information when creating objects that look handcrafted because they know people will spend more money for those objects. Consumers are usually willing to pay more for something that is handmade if it means they can own something that no one else will have. That desire for distinction among others is what drives the market for handcrafted objects and this still continues today with popular auction and antique galleries. The Arts and Crafts movement still resonates today with the way objects are being designed and sought after.

Figure 1. Carolyn Jensen, Advent Calendar. September 14 2011. Photo by Cassie Pettinati.

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