According to dictionaries the word artisan is a skilled worker in a trade typically making things by hand. Most ‘artisans’ produce amateurish tat which would make a crafts person cry. The dictionaries need to change the definition.
Had a beer from a artisan brewer that was crystal clear? No-one has. There are home brewers with no pretensions of being artisans who produce better beer.
Want a hand tooled leather handbag with uneven stitching that falls apart within a year? The online ‘artisans’ of Etsy are the go to for rubbish home made tat.
Everybody wants to have a side hustle. For some it’s an additional bit of much needed income. For many it is an identity thing. Being an artisan sounds way much cooler than payroll clerk, shift supervisor or support desk team member.
Watching a couple of YouTube videos on how to make jewellery does not make you a jeweller. They serve an apprenticeship with a skilled jeweller to become crafts people. Watching some amateur at a craft fair make a belt is not sufficient training to become a skilled artisan leather worker.
Being an avid watcher of the Great Pottery Throw Down does not make you a potter. The judge Keith Brymer Jones served an apprenticeship before hand-making ceramics for retailers including Conran Group, Habitat, Barneys New York, Monsoon, Laura Ashley and Heal’s.
A favourite place that ‘artisans’ hang out is Etsy. Do check the reviews….
