It has been and it ever was thus that a product by which I mean a
piece that has always been intended for replication is substantially
different from a piece which is intended to be a one-off.

(someone told me that I use too many commas. i hope that you enjoy the
result of my response.)

Pye's theories are the natural reification of the Cotswald movement
which came to be the Craftsman Movement which came to be the
underpinnings of the design ethic of Greene and Greene which came to
be the given group of elements that describe the Craftsman ethic at
least in America.

As you can see we have a doubled opportunity to define the idea of
"Craftsman".

The concept of "The Workmanship Of Risk" was addressed by Diderot and
is not something specific to Pye which is why Pye's book has gone out
of print and Diderot's book is still available even though it is a bit
older.

What we do as independent craftsmen is all about the workmanship of
risk. It doesn't matter if we jig it up. Our jigs our open to
question.

I currently work in a manufacturing environment. They call it
cabinetmaking but it is not.

The entire goal of a manufacturing process is to eliminate the
intelligence that would drive the production of a single product and
replace it with a logic that obviates the need for intelligence in
pursuit of the goal of making many of the same product as efficiently
as possible.

When we look at an empty wall in our house and say to ourselves that a
shelf should be there we aremarket researchers. When we define the
requirements of the shelf we are designers. When we modify the design
to agree with the available stock in our shop we are value
engineering. When we figure out the best way to cut and join we are
engineers. When we decide on the the finish that will go best in our
home given the other partners involved we are marketers.

When we are done we are heroes.




Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/