today I read a posting on the FDMA forum regarding the effect CNC technology will have on craft furniture. 'I have always thought that furniture must be hand crafted by the maker himself to be of any value' was her opening gambit. My immediate thought was she must believe all commercial industrially made production furniture is of no value. This is clearly untrue as most 20th century classic furniture was in some way an illustration of the technology used in its production. I am no expert but some of that early modernist furniture fetches high prices. Here my thinking took two routes. She was referring to the small branch of the tree of furniture we could refer to as 'craft' furniture. Or that she personally saw no value in furniture that wasn't produced by a wood craftsman. Clearly the digital revolution has been a great liberator for the unskilled and untalented. Now anyone can approximate a competent drawing. Anyone can produce a decent photograph.
When we encounter an object made by man does how it came about affect its value? Is the touch ova specific individual something that changes any of its qualities? Does this not imply a belief in the supernatural ? A belief in essences. Invisible traces of the past touch of an individual we believe to have some kind of magic. There is a famous thought experiment where we imagine a three d printer capable of producing an exact copy with identical atoms. If we use this imaginary device to reproduce da vincis Mona Lisa. Would the copy hold equal value to the original? What if through human error we muddled the two up in transit. There would be no way to measure the essence because essences are a supernatural concept. Bruce Hood writes about essences. In his lectures he has been known to produce a cardigan for the audience to pass round assuring them it has been dry cleaned. He then informs the audience that the cardigan was once owned and worn by Fred west. This is untrue but people recoil I disgust. Some need to go wash their hands. We may consider ourselves none believers in the supernatural yet we all have irrational habits, lucky socks, treasuring a pebble given by a lover, collecting celebrity memorabilia.
When I was a student I recall disappointment and shock when some students in my year learned that our country's most well,now designer maker no longer made his work but instead employed a skilled team he supervised. Damien Hirst, Jeff koons and many other well known artists operate in a similar way. The photorealistic npaintings of butterflies are produced by skilled technicians. His butterfly mandalas are laboriously constructed by his art factory. In truth art has always been this way. Not every artist but many old masters employed teams to realise their ideas. A certificate of provenance usually accompanies work from these major artists studios.
What interests me is not the deception those naive students felt but our belief in the supernatural. Even Richard Dawkins collects pens and other items once owned by Charlea Darwin.
As makers we have a perfect vision in our minds and CNC technology is a helpful tool in achieving this. What more can hand tool creation offer other than error and fault. This may have a meaning in its reminder of our flawed and imperfect nature. The designer maker scene and outlook seeks a perfection. Their exhibitions are seldom about the clients but are more about peacock displays of skill that inevitably goes above the head of any non practitioner. The General public, even expert collectors who don't make cannot have the eye. It takes fourty hour weeks, usually longer, of close scrutiny. Our sense of touch is tuned to a level impossible to achieve without years of perfecting. I don't fully understand art but I know only the elite makers can discern the truly great pieces of furniture.
My reasons for drawing and later in life making is purely selfish. I find myself in a state described as flow. In the zone. A recognised state of peace where ones self is lost. Time goes by when you are in flow. I can never spell the psychologists name who has written most about it, Mihaly Czikzentmihalyi,t but when I'm in it I have no worries or concerns outside of my work. I imagine it is not dis similar to the loss of self Buddhists and other meditators aim for. It is indulgent in a sense and I have seldom enjoyed the other part, submission of my work for approval though I understand this is the other main artistic motivation. Approval. The pat on the back. Confirmation that what you make meets the mark of ones peers. I believe those makers who drop the making to focus on design and promotion enjoy this aspect more than achieving the state of flow. I wouldn't mind someone else to represent me at London private views.
But I can't expect to be paid solely for turning my back on the world and enjoying my making. The work I produce, I also wonder, we'll have been brutally confronted by the fact, that others in my field make work not so different. If they employ all labour saving devices and produce comparable work with a spindle moulder or a CNC router for half the cost of my indulgence then a client would require immense loyalty to support your spokes have shaping.
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