The Collapse of Crafts

The remains of a great civilisation, Crafts in an age of 'creatives'.

Before burnouts, factories and other modern diseases, work was considered sacred. It was a way of sanctification. Sometimes in a very literal sense, like monks did. And sometimes less, like in a wood shop. But both aimed to craft things that outlived the maker.

Craftsmanship has never been about style. You are submitted to form. So our ancestors did not just make beautiful things. They conformed their souls to something beautiful.

For most part that is gone, but a few workshops still keep it alive.

The Guild System

In Europe trades were governed by guilds. In Japan they had a similar system. You could never call yourself a silversmith, or a joiner, or a dyer unless others approved of it. A judgment of masters.

And unlike current day worker union, they were not bureaucracies. What a guild did was to set a standard for how a certain product should be made…