Not Only Jewelry, Anything Handmade

Handmade is a celebration of our contemporary lives , a living culture. Each handmade item is about people and not machines. It is about the time and effort that goes into each piece of work, it is about the skill of each maker, the technical ingenuity of the maker, the magic of an individual’s imagination, and it is a treasure on a beach of throwaway machine made art!

Supporting an indie artist’s passion gives a good-feeling, and the artist’s appreciation is enough to add sparkle to that gorgeous handmade item. I encourage each and every one of you to buy more handmade this year and every year, not just for the holidays but for all special occasions, or maybe just because you want a new throw pillow for the couch or a beautiful new necklace for yourself.  The sky is the limit!

But it’s also wonderful that more people everywhere are beginning to embrace things that are made by hand in small quantities. In case you hadn’t heard, here is why handmade matters.

1). Buying Handmade makes for better gift-giving!

The giver of a handmade gift has avoided the parking lots and long lines of the big chain stores in favor of something more meaningful. If the giver has purchased the gift, s/he feels the satisfaction of supporting an artist or crafter directly. The recipient of the handmade gift receives something that is one-of-a-kind, and made with care and attention that can be seen and touched. It is the result of skill and craftsmanship that is absent in the world of large-scale manufacturing.

 
2). Buying handmade is better for people! 
The ascendancy of chain store culture and global manufacturing has left us dressing, furnishing, and decorating alike. We are encouraged to be consumers, not producers, of our own culture. Our ties to the local and human sources of our goods have been lost; buying handmade helps us reconnect.
3. Buying handmade is better for the environment!

The accumulating environmental effects of mass production are a major cause of global warming and the poisoning of our air, water and soil. Every item you make or purchase from a small-scale independent artist or crafter strikes a small blow to the forces of mass production.