Thursday 22 July 2010

Handmade vs. Homemade

I replied to a question put by scoutie girl, one of the design blogs I follow and thought I'd share it here, too:
‘Handmade’ and ‘homemade’ are both important aspects to arts and crafts. They simply differentiate from ‘machine made’. Looking more closely, as Holly pointed out, handmade can still indicate an assembly li
ne, or large-scale produced item, made by someone who has no real love or connection to the products and could also be exploited for their labour. ‘Homemade’ comes closest to describing something made with a connection to the craft and hopefully a love and/ or passion for creating it. ‘Homemade’ could still include the use of modern technology or machinery, or even extra hands, but there is an intimacy assumed with production. ‘Homemade also has a provincial, or old-fashioned feel about it, like ‘homemade jam’. ‘Homemade and handmade’ ultimately convey the time, skill, craft, and love that can go into creating something either traditional or contemporary, useful or decorative, affordable or luxurious! I think it’s nice to know that something is actually handmade by the one person selling their wares. For my work I refer to projects with a lot of hand work involved ‘handmade’, and for pieces that are more repurposing, or computer and printer generated, I describe the work as ‘homemade’. Some pieces get both!



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