Lily Krakowski on mon 24 mar 03
I woke this morning in my Made in USA bed with its Made in USA sheets, and
staggered downstairs for some South American Coffee and a Made in Utica NY
Hot Cross Bun. The milk is from NY State but our dairy industry is hard
pressed by Western States and their milk-production...I am in my LLBean
housecoat, and Daniel Green slippers. The slippers are the last made in the
local factory because imports have--well you know the story. When I get
dressed some of my undies will be imported and some not. My shirt and
sweater are from abroad, my pants are Made in USA from Imported Parts, and
my clogs made in Brazil.
In 1954 I remember a friend being appalled that her father in I think it was
Brookline Mass. was being laid off. He was a specialist of some sort in a
shoe factory which was closing ---well, you know the story....
Janet is painfully right. And her history lesson so good I am printing it
and keeping it. But it does not go back as far as it might...caravans, the
Silk Route....other trade routes...the age of Exploration.
The West is exporting all kinds of stuff to China, and China is exporting
all kinds of stuff to us. In THEIR discussion group the Abacus makers of
China are discussing the import of computers....and what it is doing to
them...and many of the younger among us do not know how to use the
slide-rule that made my SAC-days glaze calculation such fun.
There is huge hope for us. Marshall McLuhan told us that. When a technology
is superceded it becomes an art form....Right now even the production
potters have an opportunity--which is that what they make, we make, is
unique. While one can order anything from anywhere by mail, and the
catalogs are lovely and tempting, if one wants something unique, something
that no one else has/is likely to have, one turns to the craftsman. I read
the NYTimes pretty regularly-and people--admitedly with $$$$ are desperate
to get the NON mass produced, the MINE MINE MINE ALONE.
I know the Small Studio Alliance some years ago evaporated, but perhaps it
is time for more potters to put a "handmadein USA label" or similar on their
pots....
And contrary to whoever said that about bad money driving good money off the
market....My experience shows me that the cheap product whets the
appetite...Many who now are buying Chinese pottery at WalMart and such soon
will be emotionally ready to buy our stuff....
Lili Krakowski
P.O. Box #1
Constableville, N.Y.
(315) 942-5916/ 397-2389
Be of good courage....
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