An exploration of mass production and craft, done through the repetition experienced on the production line while trying to produce the same bowl over and over by hand, and by conducting interviews with artisans and evaluating my relationship with ceramics.
Mass production plays a large role in society - we rely upon vast quantities of objects to be produced for our comfort and necessity. Despite the need for mass production, it causes alienation between workers and consumers through the product, explored in the Marxist theory of Alienation.
I came to the realisation that there is a need to realign the relationship between the individual and the object.
When exploring the objects created using mass production; I tried to find the most perfect, untouched machine-made object out of a line of the same objects. However, when looking into craft production, objects with imperfections were viewed as perfections, they added value and acted as a portal between craftsman and consumer.
This project explores the variables created between these two production methods.
A key area of my project was the evaluation of characteristics switching between mass production and craft production. I purchased a best-selling, white fluted IKEA vase which I reproduced using different craft production methods in ceramics (coiling, slab building, throwing and 3D printing).
The outcome was not just to produce the objects themselves but to find uniqueness between each one created in the making process; highlighting and elevating the importance of creation by human and not machine. From the visible fingerprints to the varying heights, these are characteristics that mass production cannot achieve.
The perfect imperfections are highlighted in the evidence of human connection.
