My Craft is making hollow cedar surfboards by hand, one at a time. True Craft lies on a continuum somewhere between Art and Science. It requires a balance of both creative talent and mastery of technique. Not a new concept by any means as the idea of craft reaches as far back as the medieval times. Industrialization did its best to all but destroy it with its mass production and economies of scale but true Craft persists.
To some, Craft is viewed as using antiquated techniques to create handmade artifacts, when offshore manufacturers can create similar items in half the time using the latest technology. But it is in spite of this that these grassroots innovators exist working in sheds, basements and carports all around the World. Their tenacity is inspiring and it is the similarities between their stories and mine that drives my own endeavours.
There is a simple beauty in the handmade and hand crafted. We find perfection in that which is imperfect. Pencil lines, checking, and machine marks give these items a personality, a soul. It is what makes them stand apart from their mass-produced counterparts.
Am I standing on a soapbox? Perhaps I should be. Be it beer, coffee, skis, surfboards, bikes and snow boards; makers and micro-manufacturers know no boundaries.
