Canada has lost one of its foremost champions of craft this past week, Dr. Sandra Alfoldy.
Her writing extended into many of the threads surrounding making, not least of them into questioning the role of mass-production.
Shared here is the abstract to her article:
The Commodification of William Morris: Emotive Links in a Mass-Produced World
Abstract
This article seeks to understand the inconsistencies between William Morris's socialist ideas and his business practices, by exploring their constant impacts on consumers of Morris-inspired products. Although pleasant decorative motifs, the commercial reproductions of Morris's designs are often perceived as meaningless, since they do not support any particular ideology. While offering the reader some details of Morris's life and work, particularly on the founding of Morris & Co. and his conversion to socialism, the growth of the conflict between these two interests may be emphasized. The successful development by Morris of interior design products that could be described as "ethical" resulted in a change in ideals on the part of the designer vis-a-vis the craftsmen, who until then had been responsible for the creation of an entire object, but which became with the creation of the new role of designer, performers in the manufacture of design products. This article draws on the first sources to give meaning to Morris's treatment of its workers in the context of its socialist principles. Using the new cultural theories, especially those formulated by Raymond Williams, Antonio Gramsci and Stuart Hall, the author ends his article by linking Morris' original philosophies with contemporary uses of his designs, and the power of identity of Consumption and Political Identity Identifying the Work of William Morris. then responsible for the creation of an entire object, but which became with the creation of the new role of designer, performers in the manufacture of design products. This article draws on the first sources to give meaning to Morris's treatment of its workers in the context of its socialist principles. Using the new cultural theories, especially those formulated by Raymond Williams, Antonio Gramsci and Stuart Hall, the author ends his article by linking Morris' original philosophies with contemporary uses of his designs, and the power of identity of Consumption and Political Identity Identifying the Work of William Morris. then responsible for the creation of an entire object, but which became with the creation of the new role of designer, performers in the manufacture of design products. This article draws on the first sources to give meaning to Morris's treatment of its workers in the context of its socialist principles. Using the new cultural theories, especially those formulated by Raymond Williams, Antonio Gramsci and Stuart Hall, the author ends his article by linking Morris' original philosophies with contemporary uses of his designs, and the power of identity of Consumption and Political Identity Identifying the Work of William Morris. performers in the manufacture of design products. This article draws on the first sources to give meaning to Morris's treatment of its workers in the context of its socialist principles. Using the new cultural theories, especially those formulated by Raymond Williams, Antonio Gramsci and Stuart Hall, the author ends his article by linking Morris' original philosophies with contemporary uses of his designs, and the power of identity of Consumption and Political Identity Identifying the Work of William Morris. performers in the manufacture of design products. This article draws on the first sources to give meaning to Morris's treatment of its workers in the context of its socialist principles. Using the new cultural theories, especially those formulated by Raymond Williams, Antonio Gramsci and Stuart Hall, the author ends his article by linking Morris' original philosophies with contemporary uses of his designs, and the power of identity of Consumption and Political Identity Identifying the Work of William Morris.
