Treasures are Handmade and not mass produced

Buried under pieces of craft paper, mounds of fabric, beads rolling on the floor and piles of glitter; as I look around the mess I have made in my house, I feel a sense of accomplishment and I can proudly say, “I made that!” The feeling is no different from when we were young and created an animal out of clay. We would take it to our mom with starry eyes as she oohed and aahed over our amazing work or art. Was it art? Maybe not, but we still stood with pride saying “look what I made”.

I believe there is an artist in all of us, however, as technology and mass production has taken over, many of us have moved away from handmade art, or we simply do not have any time to appreciate the work that goes into creating everyday objects. So why should anyone still buy handmade art when every piece of art is readily available in bulk in stores?

Being a tiniest bit of an artist myself, I’m going to give you a few reasons (some logical, and some purely emotional) that might sway your decision to buy handmade over mass produced. But read cautiously, as it might strike an emotional chord in your heart and you might instantly want to seek out for creative handmade products.

Piece of the artist: When buying from a hand maker, you are buying more than just an object. You are buying hundreds of hours of failure and experimentation. You are buying days, weeks and months of frustration and moments of pure joy. You aren’t just buying a thing, you are buying a piece of heart, part of a soul, a moment of someone’s life. Most importantly, you are buying the artist more time to do something they are passionate about. You will probably never know how much your purchase is truly appreciated.

Be assured, it’s made with love: Long before my stuff even exists, I spend sleepless nights just thinking about what it would look like, how will it function and what its purpose will be. I invest a great deal of time in the planning process – the overall design, the construction, the materials, etc. Once I know what I’m making exactly, I have to find the perfect material to complement my idea of the finished product. I then shop until I find just the perfect things to make the stuff I have envisioned. For days, I have dreamt of the finished product. And when I finally hand over my production to you, I sign it off with lots of love.  

One of a kind: Have you ever been to a mall and run into another person wearing the same tee-shirt as you? Or have you ever been to birthday party where someone brought the same gift as you and you stealthily want to sneak away your gift before it’s opened? With handmade stuff, you will never face this situation. Your stuff will always be unique. You can be the first one of all your friends to discover a great designer. You don’t have to ever say that you bought it at Ikea J

Humanity over practicality: Buying handmade supports the concept of keeping it real!! Handmade puts humanity back into our lives. You support the local community of artists, encourage stay at home moms, help contribute to establish a new economic model, boost the use of recycles materials and contribute to decreased fossil fuel consumption. And let’s admit it, buying handmade is so much cooler!!! 

Treasures are Handmade and not mass produced: Imagine if there were more than one Kohinoor diamonds in the world, or more than one Taj Mahal. Appreciation for a handmade product is million times more than for a mass produced product. Answer this: why do you have a drawer full of hand written cards and letters, even though they are just occupying space?

It’s getting personal: A handmade gift conveys so much more than something pulled off the display of a mega store. It’s fun to see the creativity and excellence of the very, very talented designers out there. You are buying something very personal not only to the buyer, but to the maker. You carefully choose something that you love, that was created with love, and will be received and cherished with love.

Here’s something I read that summed up all the above points beautifully, “You can’t buy love, but you can buy Handmade. And that’s kind of the same thing”

So, what do you think?  Would you consider a handmade quilt over factory produced?  Are you going back to basics in some way or are you one who believes that we should embrace all things that make us go faster and easier?  A combination of the two?  No right answers, but take a second to really think about it and share it in the comments!