Art Aurea #41 Autumn 2020

There has been talk of a renaissance in arts and crafts for quite some time. The public’s interest in this is often attributed to the yearning for authenticity, for tangible and handmade objects in an increasingly complex, mechanized and anonymous world. But creative or artistic handicrafts – often referred to as “applied arts” – are still confronted with mighty competitors. On the one hand, they must contend with large parts of industry and trade, which seek to market every product as cheaply as possible. On the other hand, they compete with the high-priced luxury industry and its overwhelming advertising power. The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that craftsmanship and handicrafts were degraded in the course of industrialization with its one-sided focus on intellectual aspects in society and the arts. This was accompanied by the drawing of exclusive boundaries and by pigeonholing with farreaching consequences.