steve graber on fri 4 may 07
so YOU were involved in that cool bat concept!
~ i recently talked to an attorney on my new product idea, The Steve Tool for clay texture.
it's not patentable. i didn't think t could be. hell, it's a wheel and the wheel has been making marks in clay since it was invented a LONG time ago. a patent needs to be "new, useful, and not obvious" - per the lawyer. the trick on mass produced non-patent products is knowing your manufacturing processes enough to keep it low enough in price that no one wants to bother with copying your product. ~ and for me being a sick-o on texture, i really want to see what someone else comes up with because i'll likely buy one of theirs too!
Art vs hand made likely sets up discussions like art vs craft. like mass produced art, is it still art & if it is, is it corrupted after a specific number of reproductions? such as music via electronic methods. is it still art? not as classy as the "old ways" but still gets a result?
but also since i got hooked on clay i see art in so many more areas then i ever did before. i swear when i design my "day job" products it shows up in the products. i designed several light fixtures that are now in Home Depot. i still think they look classy. they make millions of them a year, not hand made but still "art" as far as industrial art goes. the same with a control grip i did used in Case skid steers & tractors. and some simple john deere levers i did. they met the application in the simplest form. and i see other product designs that really show a mastery of the designer to combine a need with manufacturing profit. smart potters are no different. we all need to eat.
i listen to the radio & think some of the broadcasters really have nailed their "art" by their voice style, method of talking, and use of silence as well. ~ they are artists at what they do.
"fill a need & do it yourself" - that's ALMOST hand made! isn't it?
see ya
steve
www.graberspottery.com
The Steve Tool for awesum clay texture
Elizabeth Priddy wrote:
How is this for an answer, and I am not just being a smartass:
Is that hand made?
I made it.
I used a lot more than my hands to make it.
But if you are asking whether there are a few thousand
more exactly like it somewhere?
No, there aren't.
So, long answer short, I made this.
I have the same problem as a production designer. I want
to keep each one unique enough to be worth a person making,
and yet make that person able to make lots of them fast.
That is called industrial engineering. It is a fine science. It
used to be called "being an inventor".
As an indeustrial engineer and designer I make decisions:
brush paint rather than use oils or china paint,
throw slabs rather than roll,
extrude coils rather than roll
throw pots rather than pinch
It takes a lot of product moving through to make a living.
You have to work your process just as much as your brain.
Over time, I came up with a tile bat system in 99 and gave it over
to Clayart. They are everywhere. Euclids is the best. Did I patent it?
Why! It is a bat with a hole in it and flats to fit the hole. My design is still
the best and cheapest. I saw them all at NCECA. It's in the archives.
Euclids came the closest.
I have recently come up with a Priddy PRESS. It also
solves a lot of design problems. It is a lot harder conceptually.
So I might patent it. I don't know. I probably won't. I just think it is
ridiculous to own ideas. And that is why I may never make millions.
The point is, some ideas are universal and simple and make your life
easier, faster, and better. Other ideas bog you down and paralyse
your creativity.
Fretting over what you make it with is one that will bog you down. Get
on board with technology.
Maybe the real answer to is it handmade is:
You're kidding, right? I wear glasses because without them I cannot see
as well. Do I make the glasses, no. But I sure am going to continue using them. This argument is the Reductio ad Absurdem applied to the question
of how low tech and true to real human experience you are, how granola as it were.
And that is the real issue with hand made, isn't it?
E
If it was about how much time you have in each piece price wise,
Picasso is laughing his ass off in hell right now.
Elizabeth Priddy
Beaufort, NC - USA
http://www.elizabethpriddy.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7973282@N03/
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Steve Graber, Graber's Pottery, Inc
Claremont, California USA
The Steve Tool - for awesum texture on pots!
www.graberspottery.com steve@graberspottery.com
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