Bespeaking versus Purchasing

[alden]

Reposted from the LL Yahoo site:

Commissioning any piece of artwork, including bespoke clothing, is
very different from purchasing. Purchasing is an event.
Commissioning is a process. Purchasing requires a VISA card.
Commissioning requires understanding, imagining and creating in a co-
operative venture with an artisan. It requires understanding the
technical processes involved in crafting a particular work. It
requires an understanding and acceptance of the vagaries inherent to
handcrafted art forms. In essence, it requires embracing a specific
culture and ethic.

Many would be all to happy to dispense with artisans altogether
preferring to realize their imagination's works with their own
hands. Unfortunately, few of us are so gifted. Because we need
artisans to make our visions real, we must learn how to work with
them, to develop a creative partnership with them. The most gifted
artist cannot possibly know what our vision is if we are incapable
of describing it clearly. And if they cannot see the work to be
accomplished, how are they to craft it? Because the ideal line of
communication develops over time, the first few attempts inevitably
disappoint both the artisan and the client. With time and effort the
communication improves and the vision becomes reality. One who is
not prepared to invest of himself in this kind of co-operative
effort would be better off purchasing.

There are really very few poor artisans compared to the number of
substandard and ill prepared clients. You've heard me say this many
times. When I hear the diatribe of individuals who have tried to
make one garment with twenty different tailors and found all of them
incompetent and dishonest, I have to question their fundamental
understanding of the process. Since these individuals never get
beyond a first work, they never begin to enter into the kind of
creative relationship with an artisan that bears success. Therefore
they never know success, only frustration. And some of them are
otherwise successful people, the kind of people used to "purchasing"
things. Some things cannot be purchased. Elegance is at the top of
the list.

The more you know about the process of bespoke construction the
better a commissioner of these works you will become, the more
sound, long term relationships with artisans you will create, and
the more satisfying final products will populate your closet. But
more important than the final products themselves will be the
memories, good and bad, of their commissioning and crafting. The
voyages, the searching for proper materials, the craftsmen, the
disappointments, the surprises, the good company of brilliant men,
all the things that make living and learning irresistible. When the
19 oz worsted finally wears away, these memories will likely still
be there. If one had handed all these marvels to me on a silver
platter, I would have missed out on a lot of very good times. And
the memory bank would be all less rich for the unwitting gift.