Journal Entry 1 by Cassiopaeia from Cardiff, Wales United Kingdom on Saturday, July 02, 2011

Description from Amazon
Craftsmanship has again become fashionable in high places, just as it did in the last few recessions. The concept of craftsmanship has never been as relevant and timely as it is today. Assailed on all sides by among many other tendencies - flexible working, short-termism, portfolio careers, quick-fix training and the cult of celebrity, it has recently re-entered public debate with a new sense of urgency. Why? This series of linked essays by the man who ran the Royal College of Art for many years explores the crafts in education, in history and literature, in the contemporary arts landscape, in the language, in the digital age, and takes an unsentimental, hard-headed look at craftsmanship today. Only when the romantic cobwebs have been blown away, it argues, can the key importance of the crafts be fully understood.  

Journal Entry 2 by Cassiopaeia at Cardiff, Wales United Kingdom on Monday, October 17, 2011

I really enjoyed these stimulating essays by Christopher Frayling. I first heard him speak in the early 80's while studying for my BA, he share a platform with Peter Fuller and Peter Dormer, sadly not now to be repeated. I can hear many echoes of what I can now only just remember from that time. I now feel the need to read The Wheelwright's Shop, I know it is on my bookshelf somewhere. I particularly like the conclusion to his conversation with David Pye: 'Things Men Have Made' by DH Lawrence

Things men have made with wakened hands,
and put soft life into are awake through years with
transferred touch,
and go on glowing for long years.
And for this reason, some old things are lovely
warm still with the life of forgotten men who made
them.