Art-ology

The world is getting more high tech all the time. Products are factory made. Goods that used to have individual character are being made into commodities. Manufactured goods getting slicker and slicker. What’s happening to individuality? Individuality has not gone away. The human drive for individuality is being encouraged by the growth of interest in handmade crafts. More and more people are taking up the making of handcrafts as a way of expressing their artistic individuality. But these handcrafts can’t be just the same old yadda-yadda that your grandmother made. No antimacassars these days. New types of crafts are being invented every day. For example, what about the purse dangle ? No? It’s just a a handbag pendant. Adornment for your purse. Isn’t that a fun concept?

But there’s not really a Great Divide between the world of high technology and the world of handmade crafts. As it turns out, it is the world of high technology that is allowing handmade crafts to flourish. The most effective way to get handcrafts into the hands of the buyers is to sell them directly on the Internet. Sure, you can find stores that sell craft items, but the buyers have to know where they are and have to travel there. And for the seller, the process from making the trinket to putting the item in the buyer’s shopping bag can be complicated. The crafter may have to meet with the store owner—on the store owner’s time. The store owner undoubtedly will want to examine the item and either accept it for sale or reject it. Then the artist must accept the terms of the sale. A store owner has overhead to pay. That means that she will take a large portion of the artist’s profits. There can be many other complications in the contract, such as obligations for promotional activities.

Selling on the Internet is much easier. The buyer can just browse the sites from the easy chair. And even locating the sites is easy. Just google the item that you are looking for, and the site where it is located will come up. One of the best known sites, eBay, allows anyone to sell just about anything to any buyer. Its fame makes it a go-to place for these buyers. The crafter doesn’t have to make herself known to the world because the world knows eBay. Other sites are more specifically targeted to the crafter. For example, Etsy is a site that is gaining a reputation as a place to find nothing but handmade crafts and vintage items. On Etsy, the artist has full control of a mini-site. She can create an identity consisting of a profile, a photograph, and a logo. The selling process is also inexpensive. The cost is only twenty cents per item for a three-month period, and Etsy’s commission is only 3.5 per cent. The artist can display a number of photographs of each item.

People are excited to find handmade objects because unique possessions allow them to express their individuality in a truly modern way.