DIY versus Arts and Crafts: an opinion about the IDSA 2010 Conference

A tapestry by William Morris in 1879.

The theme of this year’s IDSA International Conference in Portland, OR was D.I.Y.   Some of the presenters were incredibly talented and interesting; others were a bit smug and self-important.    While listening to the creator of Etsy.com gloat about how “revolutionary” they were by selling handcrafted items on their website, I was reminded of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement of 100 years ago.  This Etsy-DIY can be described as people with internet access and spare time making expensive crafty non-essential items for other rich people with internet access.  That’s all it is.  This has very limited impact on only the richest 1% of the world.  In fact it is more elitist and limited than what a professional industrial designer can do who is designing a $20 mobile phone for Nokia, which today allows communication for millions of poor Africans and Indians. So, why is mass production inherently bad?

William Morris tried to encourage the handmade crafts in response to impersonal mass production.  This is very much the same motivation of today’s DIY movement.  However, the artisans at the time were far more skilled and the quality of their work was significantly higher.  Craftspeople worked within an apprenticeship system and devoted their lives to their work.  They were professionals and they were seeing their livelihood threatened by factories and machines.  So they were far more motivated and had more at stake than today’s amateur part-time makers.

Here's what Walter D. Teague said about William Morris in his book Design This Day in 1940:

"William Morris was prolonging an Indian Summer of medieval craftsmanship... In singlehanded revolt against the whole tide of machine production Morris revived a dozen handicrafts and aroused a small army of willing workers at looms and potters wheels, printing presses and forges."

"...Morris' campaign had a brief prosperity.  It could not succeed because it was a mere eddy in an irresistible current, a last revolt against destiny."

"For the spirit of craftsmanship is independent of its tools.  It can work with steel presses and milling machines as well as with hand planes and chisels, if its aims are honest and its intelligence adequate."  -WDT.

Professional industrial designers are craftspeople.  Anyone who has done it knows the pain, the pride, and loving care and attention that we pay to our designs.  We draw, redraw, sculpt, form, carve, feel and re-form all by hand.  Just because our handiwork is reproduced a million times by steel presses and injection molding machines doesn't diminish it's origins.

Are we giving DIY more credit and influence than it actually has?  It is leaving out the poor skilled craftsperson, who really could live off of a few dollars a day.  To the typically Etsy seller, it’s only extra soy latte money.  What about craftspeople in Bolivia, Kenya, or Indonesia?  What if they had internet access, Paypal accounts and a reliable shipping infrastructure?  A few dollars a day would change their lives.

Another presenter at the conference who deserves admiration and respect is trumpet maker David Monette.  He is, according to the best musicians in the world, the best trumpet designer/craftsman in the world.  They are custom made, the highest quality in craft and materials and extremely expensive.  He has a select few clients and serves them well.  But he’s not claiming to be anything more than that. 

Also impressive was Jay Rogers of Local Motors, which is taking on a risky venture to create a locally manufactured/open sourced/crowd sourced (in certain ways) automobile.  And it looks amazing. Go Jay!

http://www.local-motors.com/

Michael Czysz was so talented (architect to Lenny Kravitz / designer / world class motorcycle racer), the whole room of designers was envious, so naturally, we had to hate him.  But everyone stumbled over each other to get close to that sweet electric motorcycle. http://www.motoczysz.com