Page 207 - Constructing Craft

Waimea Craft Pottery, c. 1960s. A semi-rural pottery employing contemporary
business methods. Photo: Geoffrey C Wood.

Work Satisfaction

As noted earlier, Dr Kerr Inkson selected studio potters for a study of the ‘craft ideal’

because they were considered to be a group that had a high level of job
satisfaction. His survey found that despite many of them suffering a loss of status

because they had left ‘middle-class’ careers and incurred a loss of economic

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security, ‘nearly all’ were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their work. 60% of the
potters stated that the idea that a craftsperson’s ‘way of livelihood determines and

infuses [their] whole being’ was ‘totally true’. A further 27% thought it was ‘mainly
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true’. Some potters added further comments. These craftspeople were concerned
about a range of issues that affected their lives including: loneliness, long hours and

financial insecurity but they also spoke lyrically about their love of their craft. He
concluded from their responses that their understanding of the craft ideal was

aspirational rather than practical. If their work was a form of protest ‒ and a number
inferred this ‒ then, on the whole, it was a very satisfying way of making a protest.

Old Craft New Craft

By the 1990s the notion that the defining characteristics of the studio craft

movement was its rural nature, the physical appearance of craftspeople or its
rejection of technology was being redefined by moves to improve the level of craft

Constructing Craft