Why We Make Things and Why It Matters

Many of the most significant things I read, at least as far as spirituality is concerned, cost me less than a dollar and were found by happenstance at a local used bookstore. This was one of those books.

I guess Peter Korn’s notion that “crafting is a process of continual gift giving” is true as much for making objects as putting letters to paper. This book found its way to me at the right time. Although related in content and imbued with nearly as much philosophical richness as Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Korn’s book is in every way the featherweight version of Pirsig’s masterpiece. It’s shorter, less morose and ultimately less cerebral yet it still packs a punch. Perhaps that is what you get by substituting Pirsig’s chemistry background with Korn’s fine woodworking.

Korn and his mentors were inspired heavily by the Arts and Crafts Spans approximately 1880 - 1920 and emphasizes the liberation of the factory worker a return to individually driven vertical production and expertise in conceptual and physical craft production. movement and its analogues and cousins that occurred thirty to seventy years prior to Korn’s birth in the 50s. It’s clear that while he’s not a pure disciple of any particular cult, tradition, simple elegance, and utilitarian design are close to Korn’s heart. Peter grew to notoriety as a talented craftsman during a time where industrialization had all but orphaned any practical need for artisans like Peter making things by hand, yet before it was in vogue to make a handmade dining table the centerpiece of your McMansion. Peter’s role both as a artist himself, and an educator of other artists appear to have been highly contributory to sustaining and redefining residues of movements past and a general appreciation for craftsmanship.

What I found most compelling about Peter’s work is his relentless spirit for discovery and personal transformation. Despite his well-educated parents and relatively affluent heritage, Peter had the intrepidity to seek a fortune of his own for his soul, moving across the country by himself at a young age to begin his woodworking training.

When Peter suffered tragedy be it the death of a dog, two rounds of Hodgkin’s or the demise of a first love, Peter seems to have a particular apt for quick pivots and useful thinking. When his burgeoning promise as a clever furniture designer was fledging, with the market simply not delivering financial return, without excessive complaint, Peter simply moved himself into an academic role at the Anderson Ranch Art Center. Instead of misery and professional irrelevancy, Peter’s attitude and willingness to content with strife gave way

Equally as inspiring as his work and life are Peter’s words. While secular, Peter’s vision of a well-lived life is poetic and restful. The life of a maker is one of constant turnover and production yet somehow, I feel, it resists endowing the soul with the kind of adrenal breakneck speed that so often renders a busy life synonymous with one lacking for personal meaning.

Some other interesting points of learning for me:

My appreciation of history broadly is feeble. For the arts, it is nearly non-existent. So in that regard. Peter helped with the following.

Perspectives of an Object

When someone makes something, there are (at least) three perspectives worth conceptualizing.

  1. First Person (Maker of the Object): For the maker of the object, the process and finished work serve as means of genuine (honest) self expression and personal transformation.

  2. Second Person (Receiver of the Object):

  3. Third Person (Mythology of the Object): Akin to enlightenment, not every object reaches this point. At this point an object has embedded itself deeply enough into a particular populace to have taken on a more abstract meaning, that while diluted and mutated from the original, provides the object with a lifespan far exceeding the maker or original receivers of the object. In fact, as Korn notes, at this state reception is indirect across space and time. People know about the object and what is means, as a concept without perhaps having ever seen the thing in reality.

Three Principle Pillars of the Arts and Crafts Movement

According to Korn, the rose colored lens through which many people understand trades like fine-woodworking are encapsulated by the following three tenants of the Arts and Crafts Movement

  1. Vernacular: The 1800s reaction against the industrialization and uniformity of society established a yearning for a return to plainer living and the objects therein (handmade and/or distinct from the presence of the factory).
  2. Pre-Renaissance Applied Arts Stature: Prior to the Renaissance, the applied arts were respected in equal capacity to the fine arts and matters of philosophy and natural philosophy. In the 1800s, these long held believes reemerged after being drowned out during the Renaissance period.
  3. Politics and Social Unrest: Political movements during the 1800s including the prominence of socialist and communist groups supported a return to craftsman ship as a alternative to the harsh economic and social conditions imposed on many working class individuals incorporated under the industrial infrastructure of this period.

Follow up References

This section is simply a brief collection of names and references from the book that warrant further reading.

  • Political and philosophical voices of the arts and crafts movement:
    • Thorstein Veblen
    • Thomas Carlyle
  • Influential Makers:
  • Frank Llyod Right
  • Prarie School of Architecture