Litsy

Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman | Peter Korn

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A book about making things with the latest things I made. ☺️ Having Canadian Thanksgiving before Halloween makes it really easy to go into Xmas mode in November. 🤷🏼‍♂️Tricky to summarize for the purposes of assessment. The subtitle 'The Education of a Craftsman' helps in that regard, to pair up the strong threads of memoir with the more philosophical and didactic passages that might otherwise fit better on their own in a treatise or manual. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? Korn, for the most part chronologically, follows milestones in not just his development of a certain skill level as a craftsman, but his growing understanding of what it is to be a maker with a tangible craft, how that can lead to a fulfilling life, how a life fully involved in a community, in earning a living, in teaching, can involve craft, specifically (wood) furniture. 6d

Robotswithpersonality 3/? It's engaging to see his ideas about craft and the world evolve, to manage the transition of isolation and struggle to a shift for the purposes of connection as much as financial stability or clear direction.
While his delving into the more spiritual and even psychological didn't always find me following along with all points made, I was on occasion startled by the quality of the writing, an evocative or relatable turn of phrase, and how 6d

Robotswithpersonality 4/? concisely emotionally impactful his brief forays into his bouts with Hodgkins disease (cancer) were.
I think this book has a lot more value for being written by a man in his late fifties, humbled and enlightened by a variety of experiences, which on the other hand makes it that much more quietly sad that he seems to consistently acknowledge his father's reservations about his chosen work throughout the decades. 6d

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Robotswithpersonality 5/? There are passages in here that are empowering, offer camaraderie to the fellow maker in exploring the depth of rewards gained by engaging in craft, but there are also the regular recognition of how the individual was helped, got lucky, rose and fell in regard and, as time marches on, and a multitude of fulfilling options around running a crafts school appear, finds themselves grateful to be part of a larger organism, with less material 6d

Robotswithpersonality 6/? crafting as part of the day or year.
The book recognizes the importance of craft beyond fine art being elevated in recent decades, recognizes what it has to offer to many people who experience it first, second or third hand, and while there are intriguing even esoteric explorations of the benefits and thought surrounding it, it doesn't canonize craft. 6d

Robotswithpersonality 7/7 Korn appears to be just spiritual enough that 'an even-handed approach' might be too grounded a phrase to use, but insofar as he regularly returns from the lofty heights of the mind, of writing and language and philosophy, to the tangibility of materials and other earthly concerns, I think anyone who has a personal or professional interest in crafting could find something worthwhile.
6d

dabbe 🤩😍🤩 5d

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Robotswithpersonality

Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman | Peter Korn

☺️🌸🌺

Singout Mmmmm…reminds me of an amazing B&B I was at in Gaspésie about 15 years ago. 6d

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Robotswithpersonality

Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman | Peter Korn

We love a good simile. 🌬️💨

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Robotswithpersonality

Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman | Peter Korn

😬🫣

9 likes

Robotswithpersonality

Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman | Peter Korn

Today's 'scratched my brain just right' sentence.

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Robotswithpersonality

Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman | Peter Korn

“...craft's materiality imposes cooperation on the sometimes discordant factions of the mind...Thus the holistic quality of craft lies not only in engaging the whole person, but also in harmonizing [their] understanding of [themselves] in the world.“

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Robotswithpersonality

Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman | Peter Korn

“... intellect, manual skill...when you add in the creative component of design, craft becomes a fully integrated application of one's capacities....pleasure and empowerment...like an engine firing smoothly on all pistons...“ 😌❤️

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