"Artisanal" is not about Marketing

It's a relationship

Photo by Jezael Melgoza on Unsplash

Wandering around the small shops and markets in Bermondsey and Southwark last week, there were countless examples of products carrying descriptions of ”crafted”, “hand made”, “artisanal” and other descriptions designed to evoke notions of tiny workshops, rural settings, and other ideas to encourage paying a premium price.

The thing is, though, like so many things, such as leaders and gurus, if you have to describe yourself as one, you’re not.

Artisanal is a relationship. I made this for you. If what I create is sold by another, then that relationship is curational, more than transactional. There are very few degrees of separation between me and you.

No matter the artifice of the marketer, when something has been made with us in mind, as a person, not a persona or a demographic, we sense it.