Leathercraft or Leatherwork?

[Samalan]

58 minutes ago, SUP said:

The majority of the people here are experts and professionals.

Professional leatherwork - there should be a proper noun for that.

I mean, farmers call themselves 'agriculturists', I discovered some time ago.

I don't blame them. When we say 'farmer' the layman sees  someone in overalls standing in a field, but an agriculturist brings a different vision to mind. 

Farmers are  as expert in their field as doctors in medicine. So they deserve that respect.

As do leatherworkers. So a name that commands that respect is long overdue, maybe. 

In medicine, everyone is a doctor but individuals specialize - neurologist, surgeon, ophthalmologist etc.

So a leather professional, who is a saddler, cordwainer, etc. That would command the respect that is deserved.

My two bits.

 

 

 

I agree with all you said. The way I see it is if you are in this country legally, making an honest living, you already have my respect. IMHO

[BlackDragon]

2 hours ago, SUP said:

The majority of the people here are experts and professionals.

Professional leatherwork - there should be a proper noun for that.

I mean, farmers call themselves 'agriculturists', I discovered some time ago.

I don't blame them. When we say 'farmer' the layman sees  someone in overalls standing in a field, but an agriculturist brings a different vision to mind. 

Farmers are  as expert in their field as doctors in medicine. So they deserve that respect.

As do leatherworkers. So a name that commands that respect is long overdue, maybe. 

In medicine, everyone is a doctor but individuals specialize - neurologist, surgeon, ophthalmologist etc.

So a leather professional, who is a saddler, cordwainer, etc. That would command the respect that is deserved.

My two bits.

 

 

 

One problem with coming up with another name is eventually it'll become co-opted by someone that wants to seem like a professional. Leathercrafter was a professional name but now it sounds like you may do it like a hobby and make knick knacks. 

If I had a shop in an expensive area and wanted to bring in people that had plenty of money to spend I would probably call myself a Leather Artisan. I don't do anything different but it sounds more high end so it may attract more high end customers.

[SUP]

I was thinking, just 'Leather professional'  sounds good.

After that, it is the quality of work that defines the person. 

 I, for one, would not call myself that unless I took it up as a profession and consider myself good enough to do so. Until then, I am fine with leatherworker or leather hobbyist. 

25 minutes ago, BlackDragon said:

Leathercrafter was a professional name but now it sounds like you may do it like a hobby and make knick knacks. 

The word 'professional' might prevent that. It is used everywhere and means something specific.

'Worker' and crafter' mean something specific as well, Unfortunately, 'worker' is associated with workers that we find everywhere who do valuable work but are not experts as yet in that field. 

And 'crafters' is as you describe above, @BlackDragon

But the word 'professional' still has some esteem, however long it remains.

 

[kgg]

4 hours ago, BlackDragon said:

Leather Artisan

The definition, according to Wikipedia, of Artisan according to  (from French: artisan, Italian: artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. 

The problem then arises would I consider myself a Artisan if I constructed a belt in this manner:

i) used a leather cutter machine to cut the length and width of leather

ii) used a skiver machine to cut the buckle fold over down

iii) used a leather tongue hole punch machine to put the 5 holes in

iv) used a levered punch/grommet setter to set the double side rivets that hold the buckle in place

v) used a rivet setting machine to install the double sided rivets for the belt buckle

vi) used a stapler for the belt loop

vii) used a leather embosser machine to put the pattern in the leather

viii) used a airbrush to apply the dye

ix) used a motorized burnisher to finish the edges

x) used a sewing machine to stitch around the edge of the belt  

The belt would look professional, functional and be able to be consistently repeatable but what part did I make by hand?

To me anything with Artisan in it just means expensive. Hand made is in a completely different level / category particularly hand embossed, hand sewn, hand cut, hand dyed, hand burnished, etc...

kgg

 

Edited 4 hours ago by kgg

[BlackDragon]

1 hour ago, kgg said:

The definition, according to Wikipedia, of Artisan according to  (from French: artisan, Italian: artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. 

The problem then arises would I consider myself a Artisan if I constructed a belt in this manner:

i) used a leather cutter machine to cut the length and width of leather

ii) used a skiver machine to cut the buckle fold over down

iii) used a leather tongue hole punch machine to put the 5 holes in

iv) used a levered punch/grommet setter to set the double side rivets that hold the buckle in place

v) used a rivet setting machine to install the double sided rivets for the belt buckle

vi) used a stapler for the belt loop

vii) used a leather embosser machine to put the pattern in the leather

viii) used a airbrush to apply the dye

ix) used a motorized burnisher to finish the edges

x) used a sewing machine to stitch around the edge of the belt  

The belt would look professional, functional and be able to be consistently repeatable but what part did I make by hand?

To me anything with Artisan in it just means expensive. Hand made is in a completely different level / category particularly hand embossed, hand sewn, hand cut, hand dyed, hand burnished, etc...

kgg

 

If you want to get completely technical about it, if you're doing everything with machines then, no. But what is "objects partly or entirely by hand."? How "partly by hand" makes someone an Artisan? The only machines I use are a sewing machine and a manual skiver, could I still be considered an Artisan? I also look at Artisan as "expensive" but that's why I said if I had a shop in an expensive area I could call myself that to bring in people with money to spend. If I were to call myself that in my current area people wouldn't come to my shop because they would think I was to expensive. It's marketing really. You make up a bunch of words in order to get people to buy your stuff. 

In the end people can use whatever term they want in order to define what they do. They just have to be able articulate to people what that term means because some people will still have questions for specifics. I've heard one person call themselves a leather smith. The term works, you understand that it means it's a person that works with leather but technically it's wrong. A smith is a person that works with metals; blacksmith, bladesmith, silversmith, etc

5 hours ago, SUP said:

I was thinking, just 'Leather professional'  sounds good.

After that, it is the quality of work that defines the person. 

 I, for one, would not call myself that unless I took it up as a profession and consider myself good enough to do so. Until then, I am fine with leatherworker or leather hobbyist. 

The word 'professional' might prevent that. It is used everywhere and means something specific.

'Worker' and crafter' mean something specific as well, Unfortunately, 'worker' is associated with workers that we find everywhere who do valuable work but are not experts as yet in that field. 

And 'crafters' is as you describe above, @BlackDragon

But the word 'professional' still has some esteem, however long it remains.

 

Either way you would still have to define what that means to a person. When people ask me what I do I just say "I own a leather shop" or I just say "I'm a leather worker". It opens a conversation and I expand by saying I make most anything except saddle and shoes.

I used to scuba dive a lot. I became a dive master rather quickly and worked weekends with an instructor doing scuba classes. I also did dive tours at the beach for divers that weren't familiar with the area. Some friends, for whatever reason, would introduce me as a professional scuba diver. I'm not sure why they introduced me that way, I only did it on the weekends, but I would cringe when they did. To me it sounds kind of... off putting? elitist maybe? 

I'm just a guy that likes to work with leather and I make some money at it.

[Johanna]

1 hour ago, BlackDragon said:

It opens a conversation and I expand by saying I make most anything except saddle and shoes.

I just had this conversation with someone- that shoemakers and saddlemakers are like the surgeons and cardiologists of leatherworkers. (She works in the medical field and understood the analogy)

[Northmount]

3 hours ago, kgg said:

The definition, according to Wikipedia, of Artisan according to  (from French: artisan, Italian: artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. 

The problem then arises would I consider myself a Artisan if I constructed a belt in this manner:

Does this exclude a knife?  These are all tools that we use.  We don't stuff a hide into a machine and have a belt come out the other end.  Some people have lots of tools that help speed up the process.  Others have a minimal set of tools.  Does it matter if I use a paint brush or an airbrush?  They can produce practically identical products.  If I call my work area a studio, does that move me into a different class than my basement or garage workshop?

If I use a sewing machine versus manual needle and thread, it is hand sewn?  If I guide the belt or what ever through the sewing machine, following the stitch line, or I saddle stitch, it is hand sewn?  This example will get a lot of feedback.  Which side of the bench do you sit on?