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Handicrafts
and Human Daily Life
The meanings of “Local Culture Industry” should not
be difficult to understand through its words.
Local means an area that could be a small village or
town. Culture is all about people’s life in a society
which include behaviors, beliefs, manners,
institutions, dress, creation, arts, languages and all |
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of things
that they interact with others. Industry is the people and activities
involved in a type of business. Culture is an essential part of
the term, because it links local and industry. So “local culture
industry” is the industry related to culture of one place.
Handicrafts are part of local culture. They are useful and decorative
devices made completely by hand or only using simple tools. Handicrafts
usually have cultural and/or religious significance, created as
a necessary part of daily life. The spirit of handicrafts is “human’s
endeavor to infuse an element of beauty into our daily life.”
That is, even in the normal daily appliances, such as bowls, glass,
tables, and chairs, they should be made like pieces of art.
Nowadays, more and more people begin to believe that handicrafts
should be integrated to daily life. They spread this concept and
gradually form a movement. Those people are from England, Germen,
France, United States, Scotland, Russia, Japan, Chinese Taipei and
others.
“The Arts and Crafts Movement” initially developed in
England during 19th century and was a reaction to the Industrial
Revolution. “In this period, manufactured goods were often
poor in design and quality. Ruskin, Morris, and others proposed
that it would be better for all if individual craftsmanship could
be revived-- the worker could then produce beautiful objects that
exhibited the result of fine craftsmanship, as opposed to the shoddy
products of mass production.” (Quoted from Source1)
“The Arts and Crafts Movement” in the United States
was inspired by the thinkers of social reform, followed by American
designers. One of the goals of the movement is to restore the joy
of labor by returning to handicrafts. Their concept of good design
was linked to the concept of a good society.
Japan’s movement of pushing craft into people life grew out
of a concern about the effects of industrialism. Japan intends to
reform the art at every level and across a broad society. In other
words, they are trying to turn the home into a place of art. In
order to do that, a new set of principles for living and working
was established.
The concept of completely integrating art with life was constantly
echoed in the movement's
organizations and
magazines.
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"The
movement provided a framework for many essential issues still being
debated today," explains curator Wendy Kaplan, "the conflict
between standardization and individuality, the question of whether
a one-of-a-kind handcrafted object is superior to a mass-produced
one, and the problem of defining what kind of design most benefits
society." (Quoted from Source2)
Even though
each place has its own unique paradigm of life and crafts ideals,
the main purpose of each economy is the same, to make people’s
life better, and craft could make big contribution to human’s
life.
Source
1. The Arts and Crafts Movement, http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/artcraft/artcraft.htm
2.The Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe and America,
1880-1920: Design for the Modern World, May 19, 2005, Milwaukee
Art Museum, http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/5aa/5aa211.htm
3.Newcomb Pottery and the arts and craft Movement
in Louisiana, Louisiana State Museum, http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/newcomb/newcomb1.htm
4.The arts and crafts movement, here and abroad,
Allison Eckardt Ledes, Magazine Antiques, May, 2005
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