Artisan

An artisan (from ) is a skilled manual worker who craft

Craft

A craft is a skill, especially involving practical arts. It may refer to a trade or particular art.The term is often used as part of a longer word . For example, a craft-brother is a fellow worker in a particular trade and a craft-guild is, historically, a guild of workers in the same trade...

s items that may be functional

Functional

Generally, functional refers to something able to fulfill its purpose or function.* Functional form and functionalism apply to architectural design....

 or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewelry, household items, and tools. The term can also be used as an adjective to refer to the craft of hand making food products, such as bread

Bread

Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and possibly more ingredients. Doughs are usually baked in the Western world , but in some cuisines breads are steamed, fried, or baked on a hot skillet. It may be leavened or unleavened...

, beverages and cheese.

Manufacture by hand and with hand tools imparts unique and individual qualities to artisanal products, in contrast to mass produced

Mass production

Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...

 goods where every one is nearly identical. Artisans traditionally work in media such as wood

Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of trees . In a living tree it transfers water and nutrients to the leaves and other growing tissues, and has a support function, enabling woody plants to reach large sizes or to stand up for themselves...

, ceramics

Ceramic

A ceramic is an inorganic, non-metallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...

, glass

Glass

In general Glass refers to a solid, brittle, transparent material, commonly used for windows, bottles, or eyewear. Examples of glassy materials include, but are not limited to, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar glass, Muscovy-glass, or aluminium oxynitride. The term glass...

, common and precious metals, basketry, textiles, esparto grass, and leather

Leather

Leather is a material created through the tanning of hides and skins of animals, primarily cattlehide. The tanning process converts the putrescible skin into a durable and versatile material....

.

Artisan origins

Artisans were the dominant producers of goods before the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the United Kingdom. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North...

. According to Classical economics

Classical economics

Classical economics is widely regarded as the first modern school of economic thought. It is associated with the idea that free markets can regulate themselves.Its major developers include Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus and John Stuart Mill...

 theory, the division of labor occurs with internal market development (Adam Smith

Adam Smith

Adam Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...

). However, according to economist John Hicks

John Hicks

Sir John Richard Hicks was a British economist and one of the most important and influential economists of the twentieth century. The most familiar of his many contributions in the field of economics were his statement of consumer demand theory in microeconomics, and the IS/LM model, which...

, merchants and artisans originated as servants to the ruler

Ruler

A ruler, or rule, is an instrument used in geometry, technical drawing and engineering/building to measure distances and/or to rule straight lines. Strictly speaking, the ruler is essentially a straightedge used to rule lines and the calibrated instrument used for determining measurement is called...

s, which occurred much earlier.
Artisans employ creative thinking and manual dexterity to produce their goods.

Medieval artisans

During the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...

 the term "artisan" was applied to those who made things or provided services. It did not apply to unskilled laborers. Artisans were divided into two distinct groups: those who operated their own business, and those who did not. Those who owned their businesses were called masters, while the latter were the journeymen and apprentices. One misunderstanding many people have about this social group is that they picture them as "workers" in the modern sense: employed by someone. The most influential group among the artisans were the masters, the business owners. The owners enjoyed a higher social status in their communities.

Artisan potter

Also known as a "Studio Potter", or a "Master Potter", a skilled person who crafts and fires handmade pottery, made from raw clay. Artisan potters create a wide variety of wares, from functional to purely decorative, or a synergistic culmination of both. An artisan potter often makes objects that reflect their personal esthetic or sense of value. In this sense, they elevate even the most simple piece, such as a raku teacup, to an art-form.

Artisan jewelry

Artisan jewelry dates back as far as 7000 BC, when gold and copper began to be sculpted to adorn the human form, and the practice continues today. Although rarely price-competitive with machine-made items, artisan handmade jewelry is prized for its uniqueness, variety, and beauty. Reflecting the talents of the artisan onto the wearer, the broad spectrum of artisan jewelry is available to provide satisfaction to royalty, rock stars, and "everyday folk." Thousands of jewelry artisans exist around the globe. Some fine examples of artisan jewelry can be seen at museums..

Quilt artisans

Quilt-maker artisans are called quilters. These artisans are mostly women who make quilts especially in their houses. Quilt making is traditional folk art worldwide, including south Asia

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east...

 where their traditional quilts are called Ralli quilts.

See also

• Carpenter
  Carpenter
  A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who performs carpentry. Carpenters work with wood to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
  
  
• Quilter
• Artist
  Artist
  The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. the worlds best artist is a man named mitchell peter lay who is often loved by the ladies. The common useage in both everyday speech and...
  
  
• Applied art
  Applied art
  Applied art refers to the application of design and aesthetics to objects of function and everyday use. Whereas fine arts serve as intellectual stimulation to the viewer or academic sensibilities, the applied arts incorporate design and creative ideals to objects of utility, such as a cup, magazine...
  
  
• Arts and Crafts movement
  Arts and Crafts movement
  The Arts and Crafts Movement was a British, Canadian, Australian, and American aesthetic movement occurring in the last years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century...
  
  
• Blacksmith
  Blacksmith
  A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from iron or steel by forging the metal; i.e., by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut. Blacksmiths produce things like wrought iron gates, grills, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agricultural implements, decorative and religious...
  
  
• Jewelry
• Jewellery
  Jewellery
  Jewellery or jewelry is an item of personal adornment, such as a necklace, ring, brooch or bracelet, that is worn by a person. It may be made from gemstones or precious metals, but may be from any other material, and may be appreciated because of geometric or other patterns, or meaningful symbols...
  
  
• Caste
  Caste
  A caste is a combined social system of occupation, endogamy, culture, social class, and political power. Caste should not be confused with class, in that members of a caste are deemed to be alike in function or culture, whereas not all members of a defined class may be so alike.Although Indian...
  
   — Tarkhan
• Wearable art
  Wearable art
  Wearable art, also known as Artwear or "art to wear", refers to individually designed pieces of hand-made clothing or jewelry created as fine or expressive art...
  
  
• Artisan fishing
  Artisan fishing
  Artisan fishing is a term sometimes used to describe small scale commercial or subsistence fishing practises. The term particularly applies to coastal or island ethnic groups using traditional techniques such as rod and tackle, arrows and harpoons, throw nets and drag nets, and maybe traditional...
  
  
• Esparto
  Esparto
  Esparto, or esparto grass, also known as "halfah grass" or "needle grass", Macrochloa tenacissima and Stipa tenacissima, is a perennial grass grown in northwest Africa and southern Spain employed for crafts .-Esparto paper:It is also used for fiber production for paper making...