the value of hand crafted.

Have you seen the Herriott Grace film that's infecting the blogosphere? I normally avoid blogging about things with such web presence, but this film tells a story which well and truly deserves to be spread.

Herriott Grace is an online store owned by a father-daughter partnership. Lance Herriott hand crafts tiny wooden treasures and his daugher Nikole, who lives 3400kms away, manages their online shop. The 27minute film talks about their relationship (which is altogether adorable), their attitudes to hand crafting and the full production process.

The film really made me appreciate how precious a handcrafted object really is. So much goes into each piece: the hunt for timber stumps of lopped trees, the design process as the wood reveals "what it wants to be," the hours upon hours spent turning and carving, the photographing, presentation and finally, the packaging and sending. This is no churn and burn process. One wooden spoon can take twenty hours to make.

Obsolescence is far too prevalent in this world. It's so exciting to see objects intended to be treasured for life, made with hands so full of passion.

(PS. The detailing on the underside of that candy dish gets me squirming with all sorts of geeky woodwork excitement.)

Images via Herriott Grace.