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(This post was last modified: 04-20-2016, 12:13 AM by grim.)
I am trying to figure out the difference between an Artisan and non-Artisan. The word “artisan” is overused. There are artisan breads, beer, pizza, butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers.
For Artisans I have this image in my brain of a SOLE individual, a one person company, where the individual makes everything by hand. So imagine its 1880 and you live in MN. You need a brush. You cut a branch from a tree. Cut it too size, strip the bark, and drill a hole with hand tools. Then you trap a badger but that’s too difficult so you find a horse and use some horse hair? Now how do you glue it? Did pioneers have glue? You get the picture.
Today, after listening to interviews with Rockwell razors, I can’t see them being artisans as they outsource manufacturing. So to make a brush, if you use a lathe is that cheating? That’s not done by hand, a machine is doing the work. How about the soap makers? Are they making those plastic containers by hand? How about printing the labels? Surely a computer does that. I really doubt they are out digging up lavender plants and pressing the oil. The ingredients are surely commercially bought.
So lets say its OK for technology to be used but its still a one person operation. One person makes the brush, packages it, invoices it, and mails it – and its OK if that person uses commercial boxes and computers. Is that an artisan? What if that one person has his/her spouse help in mailing? Now it’s a two person company. Is that no longer an Artisan company? Where do you draw the line? Someone is using a computer. Someone is buying commercial products and making something. What if that two person company has too many orders and hires some helpers? Now they have 4 working or 10 or 30? Where do you draw a line? How big does the company have to be before its no longer Artisan? If they use power tools and computers, its not like everything is done by hand.
Then one day, there is far too much business. So what if an automated lathe, if such a thing exists, cuts the handles? It's not like the brushmaker is hunting Badgers and Boars, cutting down the trees, cutting down exotic hardwoods in Brazil, etc. Someone else is doing all that. So now the brushes are made automatically – so what? If the design is that of the Artisan, why would anyone care if a computerized lathe did the work. It seems very inefficient to do it buy hand. After all, they aren't out hunting badgers. What's the difference?
I’ll extend this to soap. So Joe the Artisan soap maker got his formula down. But business is booming. Why not have a factory cranking out the creams or soaps? It’s still his or her formula. Surely Mr. Trumper or Mr. Truefitt or Lady Forbes started this way. It’s not like the artisan soap makers are squeezing lavender plants getting the essential oils. No, they source the essential oils. I don’t know very many people growing 1,000 acres of lavender. Do you?
So – where is the line drawn, once the company moves from one person to two? And what does it matter – really? Is that artisan bread made by Joe the Baker better than the artisan bread you can buy in any grocery store today using the exact same formula?
If Lady Forbes came up with a formula for Castle Forbes shaving cream, and it works, and surely many consider it a top tier product, then just because its mass produced its not artisan? But when she started out it was? If it's the exact same thing, why would anyone care?
Just wondering because I see a very hazy line here, especially if the artisan uses technology to assist them - where do you draw the line in technology? If the computer is printing labels - hmm, then whats the difference if the computer mixes the ingredients for a cream?
For Artisans I have this image in my brain of a SOLE individual, a one person company, where the individual makes everything by hand. So imagine its 1880 and you live in MN. You need a brush. You cut a branch from a tree. Cut it too size, strip the bark, and drill a hole with hand tools. Then you trap a badger but that’s too difficult so you find a horse and use some horse hair? Now how do you glue it? Did pioneers have glue? You get the picture.
Today, after listening to interviews with Rockwell razors, I can’t see them being artisans as they outsource manufacturing. So to make a brush, if you use a lathe is that cheating? That’s not done by hand, a machine is doing the work. How about the soap makers? Are they making those plastic containers by hand? How about printing the labels? Surely a computer does that. I really doubt they are out digging up lavender plants and pressing the oil. The ingredients are surely commercially bought.
So lets say its OK for technology to be used but its still a one person operation. One person makes the brush, packages it, invoices it, and mails it – and its OK if that person uses commercial boxes and computers. Is that an artisan? What if that one person has his/her spouse help in mailing? Now it’s a two person company. Is that no longer an Artisan company? Where do you draw the line? Someone is using a computer. Someone is buying commercial products and making something. What if that two person company has too many orders and hires some helpers? Now they have 4 working or 10 or 30? Where do you draw a line? How big does the company have to be before its no longer Artisan? If they use power tools and computers, its not like everything is done by hand.
Then one day, there is far too much business. So what if an automated lathe, if such a thing exists, cuts the handles? It's not like the brushmaker is hunting Badgers and Boars, cutting down the trees, cutting down exotic hardwoods in Brazil, etc. Someone else is doing all that. So now the brushes are made automatically – so what? If the design is that of the Artisan, why would anyone care if a computerized lathe did the work. It seems very inefficient to do it buy hand. After all, they aren't out hunting badgers. What's the difference?
I’ll extend this to soap. So Joe the Artisan soap maker got his formula down. But business is booming. Why not have a factory cranking out the creams or soaps? It’s still his or her formula. Surely Mr. Trumper or Mr. Truefitt or Lady Forbes started this way. It’s not like the artisan soap makers are squeezing lavender plants getting the essential oils. No, they source the essential oils. I don’t know very many people growing 1,000 acres of lavender. Do you?
So – where is the line drawn, once the company moves from one person to two? And what does it matter – really? Is that artisan bread made by Joe the Baker better than the artisan bread you can buy in any grocery store today using the exact same formula?
If Lady Forbes came up with a formula for Castle Forbes shaving cream, and it works, and surely many consider it a top tier product, then just because its mass produced its not artisan? But when she started out it was? If it's the exact same thing, why would anyone care?
Just wondering because I see a very hazy line here, especially if the artisan uses technology to assist them - where do you draw the line in technology? If the computer is printing labels - hmm, then whats the difference if the computer mixes the ingredients for a cream?
![[Image: zwKql1c.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/zwKql1c.jpg)
. In real life, people aren't simply "artisans" or "non-artisans", and more often than not the proper use and application of these terms will be determined by a marketing focus group.
