Do You Understand The Handicraftsman?
That the beauty of life is a thing of no moment, I suppose few people would venture to assert. And yet most civilised people act as if it were of none, and in so doing are wronging both themselves and those that are to come after them. For that beauty which is meant by art is no mere accident of human life which people can take or leave, but a positive necessity of life if we are to live as nature meant us to, that is to say unless we are content to be less than men.
Do not think that the commercial spirit which is the basis of your life and cities here is opposed to art. Who built the beautiful cities of the world but commercial men and commercial men only? Genoa built by its traders, Florence by its bankers, and Venice, most lovely of all, by its noble and honest Handicraftsman.
I do not wish you, remember, ‘to build a new Pisa,’ nor to bring ‘the life or the decorations of the thirteenth century back again.’ ‘The circumstances with which you must surround your workmen are those’ of modern American life, ‘because the designs you have now to ask for from your workmen are such as will make modern’ American ‘life beautiful.’ The art we want is the art based on all the inventions of modern civilisation, and to suit all the needs of nineteenth-century life.
Do you think, for instance, that we object to machinery? I tell you we reverence it; we reverence it when it does its proper work, when it relieves man from ignoble and soulless labour, not when it seeks to do that which is valuable only when wrought by the hands and hearts of men. Let us have no machine-made ornament at all; it is all bad and worthless and ugly. And let us not mistake the means of civilisation for the end of civilisation; steam-engine, telephone and the like, are all wonderful, but remember that their value depends entirely on the noble uses we make of them, on the noble spirit in which we employ them, not on the things themselves.
It is, no doubt, a great advantage to talk to a man at the Antipodes through a telephone; its advantage depends entirely on the value of what the two men have to say to one another. If one merely shrieks slander through a tube and the other whispers folly into a wire, do not think that anybody is very much benefited by the invention.
The train that whirls an ordinary Englishman through Italy at the rate of forty miles an hour and finally sends him home without any memory of that lovely country but that he was cheated by a courier at Rome, or that he got a bad dinner at Verona, does not do him or civilisation much good. But that swift legion of fiery-footed engines that bore to the burning ruins of Chicago the loving help and generous treasure of the world was as noble and as beautiful as any golden troop of angels that ever fed the hungry and clothed the naked in the antique times. As beautiful, yes; all machinery may be beautiful when it is undecorated even. Do not seek to decorate it. We cannot but think all good machinery is graceful, also, the line of strength and the line of beauty being one.
Give then, as I said, to your workmen of to-day the bright and noble surroundings that you can yourself create. Stately and simple architecture for your cities, bright and simple dress for your men and women; those are the conditions of a real artistic movement. For the artist is not concerned primarily with any theory of life but with life itself, with the joy and loveliness that should come daily on eye and ear for a beautiful external world.
But the simplicity must not be barrenness nor the bright colour gaudy. For all beautiful colours are graduated colours, the colours that seem about to pass into one another’s realm– colour without tone being like music without harmony, mere discord. Barren architecture, the vulgar and glaring advertisements that desecrate not merely your cities but every rock and river that I have seen yet in America – all this is not enough. A school of design we must have too in each city. It should be a stately and noble building, full of the best examples of the best art of the world. Furthermore, do not put your designers in a barren whitewashed room and bid them work in that depressing and colourless atmosphere as I have seen many of the American schools of design, but give them beautiful surroundings.
Glass Handicrafts – A New Language Of Luxury And Elegance
Glass handicraft 
has been known for its delicacy, elegance, and artistic look since ancient times.Glass, when moulded in desired shapes, emerges in beautiful forms that surely delights thesenses. A good work of glass handicraft not only soothes the eyes, it also gives a luxurious look to your home. Manufacturing of glass handicrafts emerged during first century C.E. In India.
During this time period,remodelling and colouring of glass in traditional Indian designs wasdone.The influence of foreign designs and arts can be seen on Indian glass handicraftsmanufacturing and designing.Glass handicrafts show the glory of traditional India,carrying along a whole new modern appearance.
You can easily change the look of your home and office just by adding some good artwork of glass there. The endless range available at our stores allows you to select the perfect piece of glass for your home, and that too at very reasonable prices.
You can choose antique,designer and decorative furniture, specially designed office furniture from a wide range of glass furnitures at our portal. We offer all the latest information you need about best glasshandicrafts manufacturers, exporters and suppliers in India and around the world.
You can also choose beautiful mirrors, figurines,jars,ashtrays, vases, photo frames and votive to give your home a brand new look and feel. Items like ashtrays, bottles andpaperweights made from glass not only give best utility but add beauty to your home. Glass needs minimum maintenance, yet adds maximum sophistication and elegance to your home and office decor.
For bulk shopping of glass handicrafts, you can access our list of wholesale distributors. If you are interested in imported glass handicrafts, the contact information about glass handicraft importers is also available on our web- portal.
Brass Handicrafts Exporters: Down But Not Out
“Artwork is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of sensation the artist has skilled.” – Leo Tolstoy
Moradabad the “Brass Metropolis” renowned for its large export of brass handicrafts to North America, Europe and all about the planet is very a lot perplexed these days. Their company is stumbling – heading down by around 60 % this 12 months.
For the newbies, Moradabad is renowned for its brass operate and has carved a market for alone in the handicraft sector throughout the globe. The primary crafts are the present day and beautiful brass ware, jewellery and trophies manufactured by expert artisans by loads of hardwork and sheer inventiveness.
The artistic brass ware is exported to countries like United States, Britain, Canada, Germany, Center East Asia and so forth. The quality of artefacts is typically so fine that it usually leaves the foreign patrons gobsmacked, yearning for far more. No question, there are about 600 export units and 5000 industries in the district. Moradabad exports items worth close to Rs. 2200 crore (USD 500 million) each and every calendar year.
The brassware exporters are involved about the drop in desire not just from US or United kingdom, but also from the European Union. Indian Government even now maintains that it is investing a whole lot of money to enhance infrastructural facilities to promote the industrial pursuits at Moradabad like 24 several hours UN-interrupted power provide, building of By-pass etc. Nevertheless the brassware exporters are not completely convinced with government’s line of motion.
Brass industry is becoming created as a tiny scale business in Moradabad. In accordance to information reviews, about 450 acres of land has been acquired to build a new industrial region for Export Oriented Units (EOUs) at Pakbara to Dingarpur Street. Hence this could be a excellent possibility for new business people to create their brassware assignments.
The well-liked brass handicrafts that are mainly sought soon after are brass statues, brass figures, European statues, brass posts, brass candle holders, brass candle stands, brass cross statues, brass flower vase et al. Many buyers also like brass urns, brass artware, brass flower vase, brass statues, brass vases and brass wall hangings.
Market insiders expose that the major challenge prior to the Indian brass handicrafts industry is to entail the disenchanted neighborhood youth population to consider this occupation as their total time business. They more say that the up coming critical stage would be to give them proper instruction (including technical improvements and advertising and marketing fundamentals). The final stage would be to make them fully realize the enormous likely of this enterprise. Except if and until a compelling drive is initiated, the brass business of Moradabad could fade into oblivion.