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What to call your work
Sandy Paluzzi
The Bead Peddler
Crafters and artisans mark their goods by various names: Hand Made, Hand Crafted, Artisan Crafted or Artisan Made are some popular labels. But what do the terms mean and what image do they evoke in your customers?
Hand Made is probably the most controversial label. On one hand, all beaded jewelry is hand made since there's no machine to string beads. On the other hand, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suggests that every part of the piece must be hand made by the artisan. So if a jeweler buys cane to make a bead or buys string to assemble a necklace, the FTC doesn't consider that piece hand made.
Hand crafted is another ambiguous term as all beaded jewelry is hand crafted in the same way as it is hand made. Furthermore, as humans cannot work as precisely as machines, some people think of hand crafted as havint shoddy workmanship.
Artisan made is not quite as controversial as hand made. But artisan is defined as a skilled worker who practices some trade or handicraft. Again, the Chinese bead makers are as skilled as their USA counterparts. The difference in the quality of the beads lies in the quality of materials and finishing used to create them.
The last term to be discussed is artisan crafted. When used as a verb, craft means 'to make by hand and with much skill'. While beaders the world over are skilled, it is probably true that the average Western craftsperson uses more care in assembling their pieces than does their Chinese counterpart. This term may come closest to the meaning artisans are trying to make. However, much of the general public doesn't know what the term artisan means.
It's safe to say there's no one umbrella term that will evoke the correct image in all your customers. Choosing any one of the above 4 terms and qualiflying it with more personal information may take away some of the confusion. For example, 'hand crafted with care by Jane Doe' may get the message across. And with the surge of interest in buying American here in the states, it doesn't hurt to add Made in the USA to your label.
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