Buying Handmade

Yesterday, while at work, I got a sweet craving for an ice cream sandwich. I knew that I would need to stop by the gift shop for this treat and for my guilty pleasure of viewing their $5 dollar jewelry sale. Well, as my luck would have it, they had their $5 dollar jewelry sale with all new inventory. I could have sworn they told me the gift shop only gets jewelry inventory every 2 months! I had already fallen victim to this sale and truly indulged in purchasing several items as it was a bargain of a deal. They would have beautifully colored necklace sets, wooden necklace sets, earrings, sterling silver studs, bracelets, glass pearls strung on ribbons, the whole nine. I mean, these sets are the typical pieces of jewelry you would find in the beauty supply store. These were really nice pieces of jewelry at an inexpensive price. Some pieces you know would turn eventually but some, are tarnish resistant. I would study some of the pieces as I am a jewelry artist myself. I would ask where are they getting their inventory from. They would order their inventory from some factory in California, but of course, I am quite sure they were made overseas. So. . .I began pondering, in a market economy where people love quick access to different sorts of goods, when it comes to mass made jewelry and handmade jewelry, how can you set yourself apart and press forward? I also wondered, "why would people even buy handmade" when some of the mass produced items looks so nice and are different in some right. I took to the web to begin searching. I would run across the "Buy Handmade Pledge website and found this reasoning:




Buying Handmad Makes For Better Gift-Giving

The giver of a handmade gift has avoided the parking lots and long lines of the big chain stores in favor of something more meaningful. If the giver has purchased the gift, s/he feels the satisfaction of supporting an artist of crafter directly. The recipient of the handmade gift receives something that is one-of-a-kind, and made with care and attention that can be seen and touched. It is the result of skill and craftsmanship that is absent in the world of large-scale manufacturing.

Buying Handmade Is Better For People

The ascendary of chain store culture and global manufacturing has left us dressing, furnishing, and decorating alike. We are encouraged to be consumer, not producers, of our own culture. Our ties the local and human sources of our goods have been lost. Buying handmade helps us reconnect.

Buying Handmade Is Better For The Environment

The accumulating environment effects of mass production are a major cause of global warming and the poisoning of our air, water and soil. Every item you make of purchase from a small scale independent artist or crafter strikes a small blow to the forces of mass production.

Source: www.buyhandmade.org


This article really gave me a positive understanding and reasoning for why we should buy handmade and why handmade is better in the long run over mass-produced jewelry. I know that I am a jewelry artisan myself and when look at the necklaces I have bought (I did fall victim yet again to some of their cute pieces) I gain comfort in knowing that I can tweak it to my specifications, study it to see how the piece was constructed and then build on that to make it more structurally sound. I can check out the quality in each piece and separate what is "true" quality stones/glass from the lower quality stones which are typically used in the jewelry that is sold in the gift shop. I know what materials I have used and I can tell any client of mine what the stone type is, the grade and how it was constructed. I can know that the metals I am using are lead & nickle free. I also have control of knowing that I am not limited to what's available. The imagination dictates what's available when it comes to my jewelry pieces. So, if you are looking for something that is nice, that you may have for a little while, don't mind the possibility of running into someone that has a similar item, don't care that someone is possibly being underpaid to make this and you aren't weary of the materials, mass-produced is fine but if you seek something that helps you to give back to the community, steers away from the "mainstreamed life", can be adjusted to suit your personality and can bring it back just in case you need something repaired or modified, then handmade is for you. There are so many organized village cooperatives around the world that make handmade items for the sole purpose to help out the women/men artisans within that village to support their family and feed their economy. Think about it, in a small way, buying handmade helps give back not only to yourself but to mankind & the world as a whole.

Porchia Coleman
Owner & Designer, Divinite' Jewellry
SRAJD #2870

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