What is artisanal luxury?

Artisanal luxury is the centering of artisanal skills and hand craftsmanship within the production of high-quality goods and services. To make something by hand and doing it exceptionally well is a thoughtful, considered process. One that takes time, patience, care, along with a lifetime of honing the specific skills.

Artisanal luxury honours the handmaking process by emphasising the unique quality of handcrafted products that bear the individual imprint of the maker. In highlighting the skill of the artisan, the focus shifts from the expensiveness or exclusivity that tends to define luxury. Instead, the artisanal input becomes a medium for bringing sincerity and soul, and meaning into the heart of the product or experience.

Artisanal luxury chooses to place the focus on:

• People and community by respecting cultural bonds, inherited knowledge, and ancestral skills and techniques

• Celebrating heritage by upholding the value of craft traditions.And, seeking to preserve the skills and precious know-how, while enabling them to evolve

• Collaboration
 through skill and knowledge sharing for mutual benefit

Spotlighting craftsmanship within luxury production, therefore, reveals the essential role of highly skilled artisans in creating high-quality, well-made objects. Connecting with and getting to know those behind the products helps to humanise what is often perceived to be an entitled sector. For more on the role of craftsmanship in luxury, read: Craftsmanship artisans and their central role in the rise of true luxury

That said, not everything made by hand automatically qualifies as ‘artisanal luxury’. Alongside the mastery of skills, there is a need for creativity and imagination to transform artisan know-how into exceptional, relevant objects and services. And this is where the designer or retailer adds value, and collaboration becomes a necessity.

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– Tapiwa Matsinde

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