Introduction

“Craftsmanship” is used as a mark of quality. But the word is rarely attached to a definition.

I’m unhappy when words are not defined. So I wanted to find out what it means. Here’s the result.

Some of the concepts in this book may be at odds. That’s fine. Craftspersonship does not require all of these concepts, all of the time.

Craftspersonship does not have anything to do with whether the work is free (“by hand”) or regulated (the use of tools, guides, or machinery). It is relevant to a frog whittled out of wood, and to something manufactured a million times a month.

A note about the name of this book: “craftsmanship” suggests that only men qualify. But I appreciate that “craftspersonship” is awkward. For the rest of the book I’ll write about “craft” instead.

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