Handmade vs Mass Produced

  

Today, Ruby spent the morning with Nana while Steve and I went tile shopping. No luck in the tile shop, but we thought we'd have a little look next door in Warren Evans for a new bed. From outside, this place just looked like an ordinary furniture shop. But it was much more exciting inside.

The furniture is all handmade locally and beds are made to order. I loved the way the shop was dressed with old, wooden work benches, old photographs and trinkets. I could have spent hours looking around, as there was something small and interesting in every nook of the shop. Everything was obviously very good quality, beautifully made from lovely materials, but slightly out of our price range.

I've thought a lot about handmade items versus mass produced ones, since the days when I first started to try and make money from making things. When I was 15, I decided I didn't want to do a paper round or work in a shop like my friends. I wanted to make and sell my own greetings cards and that's what I did. It was at that point that I realised that it is tricky to sell handmade items for very much, as people are accustomed to cheap items in chain stores.

Although handmade is definitely more in fashion than it was, I really feel that craft skills are under valued. I love Ikea and Primark as much as the next person- 'cheap and cheerful' as my mum would say. But do we really think about the work that goes into producing something? If we thought about how much time and skill went into what we buy, would we re-evaluate what we consider to be expensive?

I bought a pair of slippers once which had lots of intricate embroidery and tiny beads sown on to them. They must have only cost me £3.00. I wonder what the person who made them was paid?
When we under value a skill, do we under value the person behind it and the God who blessed them with it? I'll leave you with that to ponder on.

In amongst all the little bits and pieces I found this wood carving. Couldn't be more appropriate for Good Friday!

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