SCALE & SCOPE of CRAFT PRODUCTION
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(See also: Craft Production for terms of "Job" / "Batch" and "Production Line")
How many people may be centrally involved in the production of a craft product?
There is clearly a range of numbers to be considered when answering this question concerning the production of crafted objects.
The most common, perhaps stereotypic, idea is that a single person is the skilled producer of an object; and clearly, many of the makers in Kentucky fit this pattern.
This is particularly clear, yet problematic, when the crafter has no public presence at all, and is not engaged in any form of commerce involving their creations. Since this KENTUCKY CRAFTS ENCYCLOPEDIA offers online/internet links to most of the craftspeople or companies mentioned, truly solitary, private, noncommercial, or esoteric makers usually remain invisible in this portal.
Yet there are surely many of them... For example:
As an occasional woodworker who possesses moderate crafting skills, I myself fall into this category. [see photo at right] I have never offered my own craft products to any commercial market, have sold none of them, and have no website, Facebook page, Etsy page, or other means of publicizing my occasional forays into craftsmanship.
But numerous craft makers who do sell their products actually work with others to create the objects they make.
One may therefore conceive of the SCALE or SCOPE of craft production along a rough spectrum of size and numbers:
Solitary/Private
hobbyist or non-commercial
1 person
Solitary/Private
commercial
1 person
Small group with relatives or extended family
~2 to 8 persons
Small group with family and a team of colleagues
~5 to (?) 10 persons
Medium to large company with many workers
~10 or more persons
A FEW KENTUCKY EXAMPLES:
Solitary/Private non-commercial
Such crafters (who may consider themselves as "hobbyists") are typically beneath the level of historical scrutiny and visibility, do not publicize their products, and are generally not included in this overview of Kentucky crafts
Thomas Adler (see above)
Lucian Parker - [hobbyist fiddle-maker] (Franklin Co.: Frankfort)
Solitary/Private commercial: — this is likely the largest group of crafters/makers with links included in this Kentucky Crafts Encyclopedia portal
Jennifer Zurick [baskets]
Studio Lucina [Tonya Vance, felted bowls]
Small group with relatives/family: - married couples may work on a craft together, but also often work in completely different craft categories
Frank Neat Custom Banjos - Frank Neat and his son Ricky Neat do most of the banjo-building work, but also incorporate special parts
(e.g., resonators, tone rings) made by others
Small group with extended/multigenerational family and/or colleagues — sometimes termed "cottage industry":
Turtle Farm Pottery [handmade functional ceramics]
Three friends and colleagues in Wolfe County,Kentucky create a wide variety of ceramic goods
Flame Run [glass art] - Brook F. White and team of glass artists
On a medium to large scale, crafting in molten glass requires access to a glass furnace. This is often shared by a group of affiliated craftsmen.
Medium to large company with many workers:
Early Kentucky hemp production: The ancillary crafts-manufacture of rope and cordage was typically performed by enslaved persons.
Mayfield Consumer Products: a Graves County-based, family-owned industrial-scale manufacturer of candles
Stoneware & Co. ("Louisville Stoneware") - Begun c. 1815 as a family craft operation, now a major producer of stoneware
with more than 20 employees
At what point, if any, does the scale of production of crafted objects for sale become a "hobby," a "business" or even an "industry"?
See also: Hobby Crafting vs. Business Crafting
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