It may be hand made but it’s never ever average

Step 3 Making Everything

We have become acutely aware during the continued aftermath of the financial crisis; the power and effect our expenditure as consumers has on the economy.  I have to confess only ignorance and confusion with regards to the intricacy of our economy, however I have come to appreciate that it is burgeoned by consumerism.  These events and our recent history illustrate the power and heights the activity of consuming has obtained (and therefore the consumer).  However Far from being debilitating this is an empowering thought, we are all consumers and collectively have the ability to force tremendous change (and have often exercised this power), however I do not wish to pontificate on the choices one makes as consumers, as followers of Rag Tag n Textile I imagine you are well versed in the arts of responsible consumption and the services we offer in this vein.

I wish to instead postulate on someone who could exercise even more power than ourselves; as the objective consumer, and that is you and me; would be creators.  To be able to extract yourself from the accepted role of consumer, to the active role of creator is a powerful thing, a defiant act of confrontation.

As Ghandi so wonderfully illustrated, making your own clothes is a political and often totalitarian government toppling activity, his understanding of the cotton supply chain allowed him to undermine the most powerful people of the time.  Can we echo these thoughts 60 years later, can a modern understanding of the supply chain of your underwear, and a little education in how to make some, have the same undermining effect?

One of my favorite projects over the last couple of years is by a man named Thomas Thwaites entitled ‘The Toaster Project’.  In the Toaster Project Thwaites set himself a somewhat unique challenge to build a toaster from scratch (scratch being defined not simply as assembling a toaster from other existing components, but extracting and processing the parts completely by himself). 

Through his journey of Opus Dei DIY, Thwaite’s project reveals much about the modern world.  At the first stage he is defeated by the task of smelting metals something first practiced 8000 years ago! The secrets have been hidden in contemporary specialization.  The scale and convoluted nature of modern production have veiled the origins of our products construction; modern culture no longer has a need or knowledge of how to make things.

And why should it?

Why put yourself through the time consuming process of learning to make your own underwear, what could possibly persuade you to devote endless hours of learning, in order to produce a pair of pants, when you can purchase a pair for a pound.

Why on earth attempt to make your own toaster from scratch?

For maybe (I think) we are bored consumers:

Frustrated bit part producers, bullied advertising viewers

and most importantly would be creators.

So let us rise against the mass production lines of mutual pastiche, the Ikea coffee table, and the Argos toaster, not to mention the Primark Pants

Let us move from passive consumers to active creators (and topple the totalitarian powers of our time).

I wish to finish with a photo of Thomas Thwaites toaster.  It’s a complete failure.  It’s a completely wonderful, beautifully inspiring failure; full of charm and narrative; a defiant failure; a mocking failure, against the mass-produced machine.

It may be hand made, but it is most certainly not average.

(Thank you to Will Stopha for the tittle of this blog and general inspiration and Thomas Thwaites likewise)


This Post was updated on the 4th June following inaccurate and impertinent information, anyone who had the unfortunate chance to read this please receive our sincerest apologies.