IS CRAFTS RELEVANT FOR THE XXIst CENTURY? By Dominique Bouchart, expert crafts development May 8th 2004 1-WHAT ARE THE RECENT TRENDS WHICH MAKE US OPTIMISTIC? 11-Crafts seem to be everywhere, especially in the industrial countries. Never has crafts benefited from such an impressive distribution system: at the retail level, you can find crafts products in all the gift shops, but also in interior decoration shops, department stores, mail order catalogues, trade fairs 12-Crafts seem to give work and income to more and more people in the developing world. The role of crafts which was, only a decade ago, only recognized in the field of culture and as protection of cultural heritage, is now completely acknowledged as an important part of economic and social life in most countries. For instance its connection with tourism is taken into account by more and more countries. 13-Crafts lead to small industry and industrialization Crafts was, at best, considered as a cottage industry. Now, it is often next to the Small Industry Department, inside the Ministry of Industry. It is for instance the case in Thailand. 14-Crafts products are more and more adapted to the needs of the buyers Most international organizations are now funding crafts development projects: The United Nations agencies, among them UNESCO, the European Union, the World Bank, have special programs for crafts development. Specialized agencies like Aid to Artisans are efficiently Implementing projects in this field. National governments are financing and implementing themselves such projects like in Colombia 15-Crafts becomes directly available from the producers Selling directly to the tourists, selling through internet, allows the producers to sell directly to the consumer. This leads to a shorter distribution system, higher mark up for the producers, and more flexibility to adapt to the market 16-Crafts benefits more and more from promotion At the world level, the UNESCO awards have contributed to a new recognition of crafts. At the regional level the Unesco-Aphada Seal of Excellence, the European Crafts Council prize have done the same in collaboration with the European Union. At the level of each country, other prizes are contributing to this trend; In Thailand, the Support Foundation of the Queen of Thailand. 17-Crafts even starts to be protected from copies Following the system of « appellation d’origine controlée » set up at the beginning in Europe for wine and cheese, crafts coming from certain areas, can now be protected against any copy under the GATT agreement for all countries member of the World Trade Organization. This is being organized for the first time for the hand made silk of
Cambodia and looks very promising. This new opportunity just comes as a complement of many others which are analyzed in a very recent practical guide published by the International Trade Centre in Geneva. It demonstrate the relevance and interdependence of both marketing and intellectual property in the crafts sector 18- Finally crafts is considered as important: The World Bank department of Commerce estimates that the market for traditional handmade arts and crafts is about 280 billion worth of sales worldwide
2-QUESTIONS RAISED FOR THE FUTURE The positive aspects of recent crafts development has to be balanced by the questions we can raise for the future: 21-What is this crafts we are seeing everywhere? Some decades ago, hand-made products were associated with the idea of quality and were appreciated as such by those who could recognize it and afford it. Now, hand made products are not automatically associated with quality. Many industrial products have reached a high level of quality. Names like Sony or Mercedes, but also Alessi or Lexon, come to mind. Owing to economic development more and more consumer can afford quality, but it takes time to recognize it, and, when they want quality, they, most of the time, buy a product with a brand. Branding becomes the key to success. Hand made products do not have brands and, even when they are made with natural materials, have seen their level of quality sinking further and further. Many products who look like crafts are industrially made but without the level of quality real industrial products can reach. Many baskets, potteries, textiles, are mostly made by machine and look as if they were made by hand because they want to benefit of what is left of the image of crafts at the lowest possible production price which can be multiplied by 10 or sometimes 20 when it reaches the consumer. Crafts products have to face this competition and are not anymore synonymous of quality products. 22-What kind of work and income is crafts really providing? To manufacture low quality products, you do not need skilled workers. The old system of apprenticeship has practically disappeared and is supposed to be replaced by training programmers. These programmes are very often too short. The workers learn little skill and their work is so elementary that they do not improve their know how through working. It is not therefore surprising that they cannot negotiate their income. They are easily replaceable and paid at the lowest possible rate. A salary of one dollar per day, or even less is not uncommon in many countries. 23-Does crafts really gives birth to small industry? Yes it often does. We can see many groups of potters who first put motors to their wheels and progressively mechanize their production leading to efficient factories. The same has happened in textile and in many other fields. However, they have then to face competition from other areas where the manpower is cheaper. You can always find cheaper manpower. Production is shifting from the western world to South East Asia, then Eastern China, then Central China. Already The production of many traditional crafts has followed this pattern. There is probably more African crafts made outside Africa than in Africa itself. We have to remember that the Chinese administration has to find work for 28 million new workers every year.
Competition is tough, and those who remain in the market have to innovate constantly and be very flexible. Surprisingly, there is another way to face this situation: keeping the production as a crafts production and constantly improve the quality. The workshops which have chosen this way are fully booked for many months in advance. They use their traditional looms for instance, but they improve the designs, improve the skill of their workers, their organization and marketing. They are living examples of how crafts can be sustainable. Industry is not always the solution to development. We can find such situations in India or in Thailand, but also in the West. If you visit the factory of such famous bag maker as HermĂŠs in France, you will see that the craft tradition has been completely kept for the benefit of workers as well as for the consumer. The workers are respected, constantly trained and they do not worry about their future. This kind of small industry, respectful of crafts traditions will stand in timed because there is no durable economic advance without advance at the social level. 24-Who is adapting the crafts products to the needs of the consumer? Some national programmes have been mentioned previously which lead to crafts products which are better adapted to the needs. This is necessary as the world demand for crafts is going away from purely decorative items to more utilitarian items. There are still some tourists who want trophies in their living room, but it is a small market. This adaptation process is generally made by designers, not by crafts people themselves or artists. This is a dangerous situation because designers are sometimes more worried by form and function than by the manufacturing process or by the cultural traditions behind each object. However there are designers who are sensitive to these aspects and ready to work outside of their drawing room in full collaboration with the crafts people. Their intervention is necessary as many crafts people have so little training in this field and are so worried by the immediate necessities of life, that they cannot be creative. This is not the situation in industrialized countries where creation is the main concern of the crafts person. However it is an individualistic approach and they are much less integrated into their community and its traditions than in the developing world. The crafts person in developed countries tend to be relatively wealthy but isolated. Finally, in the developing world, the noble part of crafts, which is creation and imagination has often left the crafts people themselves. This is one of the reasons why the young generation is not interested in crafts. Most competent crafts people in the developing world are old and will not pass on their know how to the future. 25-What is the future of the distribution system for crafts? There are opportunities for crafts people to sell directly to the consumer, on one hand to the tourists, and, on the other hand, through internet. Of course these distribution systems should be envisaged first as the share of profits for the crafts people can be much higher than through the other systems. However selling directly to the tourists is only possible in the aoristically developed areas of the world and, in this case, the crafts people tend to leave their activity and work more directly for the tourist industry. This has been the case in Mauritius for instance. Then the crafts sold to the tourists has to be imported from other producing areas. On the other hand, the internet can also be useful, but it is valid only for smaller objects with relatively high value in order to justify the price of packaging and expedition. You for instance sell through internet small silver items, but not baskets. Certain types of crafts like accessories, but also, more and more, objects for the house, become part of fashion. They have to change according to the season their color even
their shapes one year in advance to be prepared. Then the crafts people depend on fashion forecasts. This industry was, a few decades ago, in the hands of crafts people who loved what they were doing. Now, all the big names are not anymore persons. They are just brands which are so successful in every field, that they become indispensable to sell. The crafts people involved in fashion are completely dependent on this industry for ideas and orders. Most crafts people cannot sell directly and are not dependent on fashion, but what is happening in the main distribution system is worrying as it is more and more in the hands of the specialized buyers for the big retail chains like hypermarkets. Their importance is constantly increasing. They started with crafts exhibitions in their stores to attract the consumer following the general trend for ÂŤ natural products Âť, and, now, they realize that finally it is a good business. Their bargaining power with the producers is so powerful that they can impose lower and lower prices. Their economy of scale for transportation with regular containers and computerized inventory allows them much higher mark up than the specialized, smaller, shops. It can be feared that, in the coming decade, these big buyers will leave very little room for the quality oriented specialised retailer. 26-Is the present promotion system for crafts adequate? There are, indeed, more and more promotional events for crafts like awards at the national, regional and international level, but there is no systematic constant promotion for this type of activity. Nowadays, a product which does not benefit from constant promotion, cannot survive. An accepted norm for the advertising budget of an industrial product is 6% of the turnover. The existing system for high quality crafts product is essential as it gives pride to the producer and incite the buyer to spend. However, it is a drop of water in the ocean of the need for promotion for the whole crafts sector. A very high percentage of quality crafts is never mentioned in these promotions and therefore, ignored. There is an immense need in this field. For instance if, in most industrialised countries, there is at least one good museum for decorative and traditional crafts, it is very rare to find one in developing countries. Exceptions have to be mentioned like India with the wonderful Delhi museum which could serve as a model for many countries. These museums could be often the only way, for the young generation, to learn about the quality of what their forefathers were doing. If it does not exist, how can we expect that the standards of quality will be kept? 27-Can we really avoid to be copied? Crafts can indeed be protected following the advice of the ITC study and, perhaps, starting a process of geographical indication, but it is, for the moment very exceptional. According to a UNESCO study on the subject most countries are more and more copying crafts from other countries and are themselves being copies. This does not have much consequence when only a small proportion of the production is involved, but the consequences are catastrophic when it is widespread and systematic. It seems that, in some areas, a copy is almost immediately undertaken as soon as any craft from any country is successful on the world market. The famous Kenyan basket is now mostly made outside Kenya; the Mexican sweater is mostly made outside Mexico, and so on. The best way to fight copying is to maintain such a high quality that copying becomes too difficult, or to be creative and think all the time about new products. However, copying is so wide spread, quick and systematic that we should be able to exercise pressure on the proper national authorities to restrain this unethical activity which is finally damaging for everybody. The copier has to fight on price, the quality then
diminishes and the market is exhausted.
3-FACING THE CHALLENGES In front of all the challenges facing the crafts people, the World Crafts Council is the only international Non-Governmental Organization who can respond to these needs. In spite of its weak administrative structure and lack of funding, the WCC has the strength of IDEAS and PROPOSALS. The financing always follows as has been demonstrated by the collaboration with the European Union. Many crafts people and many crafts organizations suffer from being isolated. It is time to collaborate with others at the individual level as well as at the organization level: - collaborate with creators whether they are designers or artists in order to bring fresh ideas on how to adapt their products and take into account the market needs. What has been started in Colombia and Thailand with success can be a model. WCC itself could start a partnership with a design organization like ICSID. - collaborate with tourism development organizations at the national level as well as at the international level. WCC could invite experts from the World Tourism Organization, a UN Agency based in Madrid. Statistics on tourism can indeed be a great tool to obtain funding from crafts related activities. - collaborate with the entrepreneurship projects which are promoted by all international funding agencies like the World Bank and the European Union. We have the proof that in many countries, craft is at the basis of entrepreneurship - last but not least, collaborate between national entities, setting up exchange programmes between crafts people from the industrialized world and the developing world, living in each other house, sharing know how, and giving birth to new creative works. Crafts organizations have a great responsibility to assume in the next decades as advocates of the crafts people and their role in society. Crafts will be relevant in the XXIst century only if we spring from our shells and become more open, if, as our grand master Leonardo da Vinci said we have CURIOSA. It is the basis of creativity and progress and could lead to a new Renaissance like the one which impulsed in Europe by this extraordinary convergence between the hand and an open mind. This could be revived in the XXIst century, not at the level of Europe, but at the level of the world community of the crafts people. The time is ripe for a new era of handcrafts.