RosettaStone: CRAFT A primary, secondary, and annotated source reader for functional craft. By: Randi O'Brien

This is an annotated evaluation of the following:

Craft within a Consuming Society. by Gloria Hickey
Gloria Hickey, “Craft within a Consuming Society” in The Culture of Craft: Status and Future, ed. Peter Dormer, 83-100 (New York: Manchester University Press, 1997)

Reviewed by Randi O’Brien

Gloria Hickey is a contemporary craft writer and curator. In Hickey’s article she address the attributes that make craft appropriate as a gift as well as the process in which people inject themselves into the action of consumerism. For example, the way in which we experience the process of shopping as a retailer, buyer, and receiver and the way in which we add meaning or a value to a specific object; security blankets. What is especially exciting about Hickeys article is the engagement with authenticity and cultural identity that a buyer will align with craft. While the association of cultural identity and authenticity is synonymous with craft in the consumer mind and often elevates the identity of craft with in markets, Hickey addresses the down fall of misconceptions in the assumption that craft is rustic, irregular, or rudimentary in nature, often lending to a primitive aesthetic.

Hickey concludes that a majority of craft based objects are not bought as gifs yet rather as a distinctive article or collectable. This is in direct correlation to a consumer’s relationship to expectation and association of marketing. The consumer is essentially buying the craftsman, the limited edition, or the specimen which often skews or re-contextualizes the craft object. Hickey’s article is an appealing theoretical addition to discussions on value and meaning within objects that are handcrafted in contemporary society. Additionally Hickey’s bibliography is full of references on materialism, rituals, gifts, marketing, tourism, consumption, and other theoretical debates on objects and meaning; 26 additional articles in total.