Hey!

There’s this thing about a crafted object that I wanted to talk to you about.

There’s often a weight to such a thing, a surprising heft unseen.

It’s not a requirement, but a common trait, much like the simplicity these things tend to share. It’s a property that comes from a desire to use the best materials available. Not the cheapest, nor easiest to acquire, nor the easiest to transport.

And sometimes the best materials are heavy simply because we think of the best materials being heavy.

Without the use of great materials how will that line of beauty that runs through the history of all well-crafted objects extend to something new? How will it combine this shared quality while also feeling unique and rare? It’s a difficult duality.

What will there be for the master to gently bring form to?

How will it feel as if it had been missing?

That’s how any well crafted object I’ve been lucky enough to hold or to use or to experience has felt. As if it had been missing from my body.

They’ve all felt as if they were phantom limbs, ones which I didn’t know were gone until they were found.

Oh, and the joy! The vein of pure joy that opens and engulfs us when we use an object that feels as if it were crafted just for us and us alone is one worth racing after. We can … no, we should chase this feeling as if it were a high for the entirety of our lives, slowly accumulating these objects and searching out the experiences they offer.

There’s the fountain pen that feels as if it was turned exclusively for the tips of our fingers, the chair that exudes a warmth that hasn’t diminished for centuries, the car that feels as if it’s a thousand winged-horses soaring through the air.

These objects whisper to us, telling us they are extensions of ourselves and that they’re home now, ready to work, ready to do what we ask, as ready as any finger on our hands to receive an impulse and charge to move.

It’s in this whispering that the reason why crafted objects are important becomes clear.

Do you know what the materials for your craft are? Do you know how to shape them? What their weaknesses and strengths are and when such things are a virtue and when they’re a curse?

Do you know you have to mould them so they feel like they’re phantom limbs to those who’ll use what your craft produces?

Don’t feel bad if you don’t – I’m still trying to figure these things out. I’ve given it a great deal of thought and still couldn’t give you an answer.

Maybe it’s something to figure out slowly, maybe over a lifetime.

So why not start now?

What are the materials your craft needs, and do you know them well enough?

I hope you had an awesome weekend and the week is off to a good start. Please feel free to hit reply if you want to chat about anything in this week’s newsletter?

Alex