DIY/Crafts

In the last millennium, when I was still in the 9to5 world, the business model for productive work was The Team. The individual contribution might have been welcomed, but it had to be blended into group decisions or lost entirely as “a bad idea”.

My experience with The Team concept was generally positive. When it works as it should, the team is able to take ideas from all ranges of experience and perspective, and come up with one that allegedly works better, for all its flaws, than the extremes from any one individual. To be honest, the Steve Jobs and Bill Gates of commercial business are pretty rare birds.

So that brings me, believe it or not, to craft.

There is something in most of us that may be willing to blend into the background, for the good of the whole, but also longs for individual expression. Being the human robot in a repetitive job or constantly blending (or having ideas frequently rejected) can deaden the soul.

Enter the concept of craft. Whether it is sewing or woodworking, writing or painting, this is one thing that is utterly individual. Yes, I have to learn the techniques of carpentry or painting, but once the rules are down pat, I can let my imagination go. I can see where my own ideas lead me. I can be my own boss. I can just have fun.

Craft is often denigrated, maybe because the Industrial Revolution put paid too much of it as volume became the lodestar of industry. But it retains a significant purpose in the arts as well as those quiet minutes when we can finally take time to refresh our spirits. Or, said another way, it lets us be ourselves with no harm done to others.

This time spent being ourselves is just as important as building a thousand Mercedes or coming up with yet another Mission Statement. It may be more so. If we lose ourselves so totally in becoming the human robot or The Team, I suspect those functions suffer too.

Time to start thinking about another book…

Comments

[Michael A. Black]

I agree, Priscilla. I've often said in my classes that new writers have to spend time developing and learning the craft of writing.

[Priscilla]

Bravo, Michael!

[camille minichino]

So true, Priscilla -- when you're crafting, once you learn "the rules" you're your own boss.

[Priscilla]

And you are the master of many crafts, Camille! I was looking at something small this morning and the first thought that came to me was: "now Camille would come up with a way to use that..."