Craftsmen of Art, and Their Craft: The Experience of Authenticity and Its Materialization in the Places Where Craftspeople and Enlightened Clients Meet

Abstract

The author would like to give special thanks to Florence Clarac for her help in collecting the data for the present study and in validating its findings. We also express our gratitude to the 11 craftspeople who agreed to share their impressions, fears and hopes about their profession, and to the 12 enlightened clients we interviewed. Without their open-mindedness and sincerity, the present study would have been impossible. Lastly, we thank the RAM readers for their help in improving the earlier versions of this text. The author can be contacted at: Michelle.Bergadaa@hec.unige.ch ABSTRACT This study was conducted at the request of a French city interested in promoting artistic craftspeople in order to attract enlightened clients. Using naturalistic enquiry, we conducted in-depth interviews with craftspeople and enlightened clients and performed two content analyses. The first, structuralist in nature, made it possible to define the "experience of authenticity" that craftspeople share with their customers. The second, phenomenological in nature, made it possible to understand how this experience is (or is not) cultivated in two traditional meeting places: workshops and public exhibitions. The article concludes by putting our definition of the experience of authenticity in context based on both the fundamental propositions put forward by Peirce and the principal propositions that currently define the field of marketing.

Luxury marketing in social media: the role of social distance in a craftsmanship video

“…Because the fine craftsmanship content is related strongly to luxury goods' core values, such as high quality, exclusivity and uniqueness (Belk, 1988; Belk et al , 1988; Dubois et al , 2001), craftsmanship content increased consumers' perceived luxury. Previous researchers focusing on luxury products' craftsmanship have explained that the experience of craftsmanship enhanced luxury goods' perceived value, an explanation that supports this finding (Bergadaà, 2008; Schmitt et al , 2015).…”

“…First, this study expands on previous research by examining the craftsmanship content in social media marketing context. While craftsmanship content has been frequently examined by previous researchers as one motivation for luxury product purchasing behavior and discussed as a core value of the concept of luxury (Atwal and Williams, 2009; Bergadaà, 2008; Laurent and Dubois, 1996; Schmitt et al , 2015), this study provides empirical evidence of the importance of craftsmanship content and contributes to the literature in luxury marketing.…”

“…Craftsmanship refers to the way in which artisans create high-quality and aesthetically appealing objects (Ricca and Robins, 2012). Because these objects provide consumers with a sense of quality, uniqueness, exclusivity and aesthetics (Atwal and Williams, 2009; Bergadaà, 2008; Schmitt et al , 2015), many luxury brands highlight their significance with their craftsmanship. In 2009, Louis Vuitton presented a savoir-faire (know-how) advertising campaign to highlight the company's craftsmanship and lessen its image as a manufacturer of mass-produced consumer products (Kapferer, 2014).…”

Handmade OK please: key criteria for purchasing craft items by Indian consumers

“…Assamese MMC buyers experience craft authenticity "as objective (related to an object) but also existential (related to a person's senses) and constructive (developing through interactions with a third party)" (Bergada a, 2008;Leigh et al, 2006;Morhart et al, 2015). MMC quality and design aspects were the most discussed issues, followed by the importance JCHMSD 13,1 of MMC in Assamese culture and tradition.…”

“…More research into the craft buying behaviour of consumers in other Indian states would enrich scholarly knowledge of the criteria used for buying craft by Indian consumers. If policymakers and organisations were to act on the implications of this research, they might "free" craft-like art from the "old style ... air of crabby conservatism" of "feminine", "ethnic", "exotic" and "traditional" (Adamson, 2013) and see craft as a "fluid" (Bergada a, 2008;Kettley, 2010) and as an "idea" (Adamson, 2007) to broaden our horizons to understand craft authenticity and sustainability.…”