Work Divide

The divide, and this is what has caused me most professional turmoil, is something like this. Will Self says he writes for himself, not for readers. I question how furniture should be for others yet retain a need to make autonomously. The divide often drawn between art and design and art and craft is more often one of wanting to work autonomously. We are on a creative journey, leaving work as milestones along the way. Many artists take it seriously and do it all the time. If it is your life and not just your spare time, your hobby then you are forced to engage with others, entertain the idea of communication. A joiner fixing a house doesn't offer weird solutions that sail over the clients head. When you make furniture for a living in some way the measure of your skill is how well you can please others. But, if you do something all the time you become an expert. Clients come to you. They think about furniture once or twice a year in a superficial manner. They may come with an idea that they want made. You must put aside any feelings regarding their naivety. You have to employ odd tactics with your knowledge. The advanced experiment you want to make bares no resemblance to their wants.They wan to feel comfortable wih their family and freainds. If you give them some advanced thought experiment of avant garde cutting edgeiness they lack the understanding and language to explain it.

So you have to draw lines; make a divide. You can compromise and make a highbrid that satisfies no one. Or divide your working practise. I opersonally like Will Selfs work. The more experimental the better. But readers like me are few.