Sarcophagus # j
photos Charles Stevens.
notoriously hard to reproduce in three-
dimensional form. As time wore on, tech-
niques of mechanical drawing were devel-
oped to address this problem of translation,
but precision came at a price. As rendering
became the specialized province of engi-
neers and technical draftsmen, skilled arti-
sans no longer exercised discretion at their
own workbenches.
So what does artisanal drawing look
like? Here, I take inspiration from Henry
Petroski (see page 46) in one of his classic
books on engineering,
The Pencil: A History
o f Design and Circumstance.
As he writes,
the cultural value of this humble tool is to
be found, in large part, in its very imperma-
nence. Unlike an ink pen, the pencil is a tool
for thinking tentatively. It literally draws
its user into an active process, in which
hand and mind work in concert.
So when artisans take up their pencils,
they are as likely to draw right on the work-
piece as in a sketchbook. I’ve asked a few
makers about this, and they are unanimous
on the point: if you’re about to cut a form
out of wood, or hammer it into metal,
there’s no substitute for laying down a path
in pencil first. The Wisconsin cabinetmaker
Charles Radtke, who makes exquisite case
furniture informed by Art Deco masters like
Ruhlmann, describes his process this way:
“My typical approach is to have some vague
idea as to leg shape, then I oversize the legs,
do all the joinery, and then come back with
the sharp No. 4 pencil and draw ‘mock-up
lines’ right on the piece. It is the only way
to get a true sense of the scale.”
The value that Radtke finds in vagueness
is telling. Fine workmanship like his is cer-
tainly characterized by precision in the end.
But that’s true of objects made through au-
tomation, too. To understand what craft is
all about, we have to go back earlier in the
making process. A few uncertain lines in-
scribed into wood may not look like much.
Unlike a blueprint or mechanical drawing,
they would be difficult for another person
to interpret. But it’s in these stray marks,
indecisive and open-ended, that craft finds
its distinctive voice.
Glenn Adamson is head o f graduate studies at
the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and
co-editor o f the
Journal of Modern Craft.
A few uncertain lines inscribed into wood may not
look like much
....
B u t i t ’s in tloese stray marks, indecisive
and open-ended, float craft finds its distinctive voice.
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