We rely on machine for manufacturing, assembling and conveyance, under the rapid development of mechanization, automation and intelligentization. The value and purpose of manual labour is to achieve what machines have not yet achieved. Or to preserve the past and the replaced producing methods and materials which are no longer vital in modern days.

Crafts become artful when it was mastered to extreme. The spirits of crafts is not just perfect skills but the pursuit of quality of the product. These techniques not only being practiced to perfect but also evolved along with the craftsman who conducted them. These craftsmans are called artisan, master and pro.

Japanese sushi chefs can make every sushi exactly the same size and weight, but the magic is not only the precision like a machine, but the delicateness that the machine can't replace. It may be possible to control the quality of products in a scientific and quantitative analytical way, but the persistence of manufacturing and the mastering and innovation of skill enhance the artistic quality of craftsman.

Craftsmanship’s future

These craftsmanships of complex culture and application are facing decay and extinction. Crafts are awkward mixtures of old production methods, which are considered to be useless, and inheritances of culture that need to be preserved. Is it an inevitable that crafts retrieve into the museum and eventually losing its value for production?

Manufacturing methods differed from ethnic, historical and cultural have brought the touch of humanity to the craft. The original purposes of these technologies have declined with the development of advanced technology, but its cultural heritage has changed its position of mere manufacturing. Manual works of old days have become special experiences today and conducting techniques has become a sort of performances. Through design, designers try to revive the ancient craftsmanships, manufacturing industries and products, through the market and to give them new values.

However, new manufacturing methods also bring new crafts. Machine-made products, created through sophisticated calculations, design and technology, refined manufacturing. Today, the value of human’s labour and wisdom are challenged. Can the cooperation between machines and human enable crafts, or say humans, to guard their places in the manufacturing industry chain?

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