As the Industrial Revolution progressed, we traded craftsmanship for the machine. While a machine can do the work of a human, it cannot put the touch of the human hand to its work. As a consumer of craft, I have coffee cups, soup bowls, knifes and many everyday products, which where purchased from their creator. The touch of their hand greets me each morning in my coffee cup, and in the evening the warmth of a hand woven blanket over my legs. I wonder to myself, “Where are these people, what are they doing, are they well?” In today’s culture, we have the great privilege of personally meeting the artisans. Through these meetings the patron and the artist become partners in the unique and timeless relationship called craft.

Think of wood and how it affects your life. Your home contains it, paper is made from it, you burn it for the heat, and just the beauty of the flame. Fallen trees decompose to renew the forest creating habitat, these same trees have purified the air you breathe and provide fruits, nuts and berries. Where does the syrup on your pancakes come from, a maple tree?

Having experienced wood while building furniture, boats, interiors in homes, a play house and forest retreat for my daughter I have become intoxicated with its existential nature. Wood (1) has taught me patience, honed my abstract thought process and accelerated my creativity, but through the ebb and flow of my relationship to wood, it has also taught me restraint. If not used properly, if I do not honor the way it has grown there are consequences, structural failure, cracking, warping and distortion of the intended work. Consider other common home furnishings; the sand and minerals that a glass blower uses to create bowls, the steel in flatware, the cutting edge on a blade made by the knife smith; the cups and plates produced on the wheel of a potter; the curtains, pillows coverings, table cloths, woven and sewn by a fibrous. These fundamental elements of our daily life, if created by artisan bring with them another’s touch to your home, and both the very real and transcended intimacy of another human being.

An early morning walk though your local arts and craft fair, or farmers market may waken you to this deepened human experience. A new awareness may begin to grow within you. The next time you buy flowers as a gift consider first the vase, find a potter or a glass blower. Talk with them, watch their hands as they bend and shape, observe how something is created from nothing, and then buy their work. Long after the flowers you place in this creation have wilted and been cast aside, the memory of your meeting will life on like a picture in a photo album. The spirit of your conversation with the craftsman will sing to you each time you view the vase, the cup, the table cloth or wrought iron. These objects are not inanimate. They are imbued with spirit and heart. Their song has been created by the human hand.

(1) Wood; Funk and Wagnalls Standard dictionary: A large and compact collection of trees; forest; grove also woods. The hard, fibrous material between the pith and the bark of a tree or shrub.

“The refusal to rest content, the willingness to risk excess on behalf of one’s obsessions, is what distinguishes artists from entertainers … and what makes some artists adventurers on behalf of us all.” – John Updike

Michael Doerr is an internationally recognized, award-winning furniture designer and woodworking craftsman who lives in Sturgeon Bay. He teaches both at his woodshop studio and at a number of the nation’s top craft schools including Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, The Clearing, Connecticut Valley School of Wood Working, Penland School of Craft and Woodcraft Stores. Learn more and see a portfolio of his work at MichaelDoerr.com.