Page 28 - Constructing Craft

had a semi-formal structure of training and a hierarchy based on skill and

experience. Furthermore, a craftsperson’s position in society could be categorised
by their working relationships. For instance, when a skilled person worked for
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themselves or hired staff they, ‘left the working class’. Higher levels of skill
became a signifier of greater social standing and could lead to self-employment and

the title ‘employer’ – although economic circumstances tended to make these
positions very fluid. To ensure that this system was not degraded within the

workplace, communities of skilled workers formed craft unions, sometimes called

guilds. These generally consisted of workers who had served an apprenticeship or,
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through many years of practical experience, had gained a high level of skill. The
union’s (guild’s) role was to protect the status of their members against all other
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workers. This type of demarcation existed from the 1880s through to the 1920s.

By the 1920s, larger industries in New Zealand had become departmentalised
although, of course, many small craft workshops had employed some form of

division of labour since the country was first colonised. It was this aspect of
industrial organisation, on a large scale, that hastened the downgrading of craft

skills to the greatest extent. Some businesses did retain the old craft skills ‒ even if

they sometimes could not be justified in economic terms ‒ often to add a sense of
tradition to their enterprise or to suggest a level of quality through the use of the

term ‘handmade’ in advertising. For instance, ‘throwers’, as the craftspeople that
made pottery by hand on a wheel were called, were still employed at industrial

potteries such as Timaru Pottery and Crown Lynn Pottery for as long as the
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businesses existed. It was generally these skilled craftspeople that kept old
knowledge alive. Few craftspeople working independently in clay, fibre, glass, wood

and metal, producing individually designed items, could earn a living between the
wars therefore their skills were often not fully developed. The future studio

craftspeople sought out the few remaining trade craftspeople to learn the skills they

needed ‒ as was the case for the pioneer potter Briar Gardner who watched the
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British potter William Speer make pottery at her family’s brickworks. Some crafts
continued to be practised in homes and workshops and in a few tertiary training
institutions, such as teachers’ colleges where basic courses were taught, but rarely

by the skilled craftspeople who worked in industry.

Constructing Craft