Handicraft Vs Handmade

Handmade (or handcrafted, handicraft and homemade) refers to products made either completely by hands, or with support of hand-tools or even mechanical means, under the condition that the most crucial component of the finished products is contributed manually by the makers (Sunita and Shiware 2013). Since the beginning, human have survived by using hands to get food, make clothes and build shelter; it was not until the industrial revolution in 1760 machines were substituted for human skill and human force (Landeds and David.S 1969). Later, computers encroached into many areas which used to be controlled by human with better precision, efficiency and safety. As a result, there has been a tremendous shift from handmade to manufacture like we

Traditional craft might fall into high-involvement like San Yi wood carving village or low-involvement like the neighbor village – Yuan Li grass weaving in Taiwan. In spite of beautiful artistic and social value, nowadays traditional handicraft is unlikely to catch up with modern society due to rapid development of machine in mass production and their impractical usage. This unhappy fact discourages craftsmen and the young generation to study the art, or worse still would lead to the extinction of these beautiful cultures. Ms. Liu Wen Xiu – the owner of a traditional Taiwanese oil paper umbrella shop disappointedly told us despite of the high traffic, customers came there to appreciate the art but no longer bought the traditional handicraft products, the shop’s revenue now came from other machine-made souvenirs. As such how to preserve the art and support craftsman in term of economic aspect should be studied by government and

With well-practiced skills and throughout materials knowledge the handmade makers bring a uniquely in-depth knowledge of materials, material qualities (Pye, 1968) and materials’ responsiveness to process (McCullough, 1996). Their work was described by Christoph, Martin & Stijn (2015) as intimate connection between maker and user; the love being imbued is also able to transfer to the one receiving handmade products as