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 inherentl...