Artisan - The Real Meaning
ar-ti-san
noun
noun: artisan; plural noun: artisans
Definition:
"An artisan is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates things by hand that may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative arts, sculptures, clothing, jewelry, food items, household items and tools or even mechanisms such as the handmade clockwork movement of a watchmaker.
Artisan is a word that is often over used. You will see this word in reference to a hamburger bun from a fast food place, or a mass produced, printed piece of wall art in a big box store. It's become an eye-catching word used in marketing campaigns to set themselves apart from normal, everyday adjectives.The fact is that the reason it is used so much is because something that is actually crafted by an artisan is of unique and high value. And in attaching this word to an ordinary product it is supposedly adding unique value to the ordinary.
Every day at our forge our Artisans, Craftsmen, use the skill of their trade to create the extraordinary. We don't use this word to fictitiously add value to the products that they make. This is artistry and craftsmanship in it's true form. Yes, there are machines involved and the trade has evolved over the years, but each piece is still hand fitted. Every placement of a branch or leaf, a scroll or vein is the decision of the Craftsman behind the tool.
We're proud of the heritage of our trade and the tradition of bending and shaping iron into something that's not only useful but beautiful at the same time. Someone that can mentally visualize the end product, pick up the raw and lifeless material, put it through the stress of the tools and come out with the same real product that was originally just a mental picture is an Artisan. Just as the product that they create carries real and unique value, the Craftsmen themselves carry that same value to us.
Come by our store and see the amazing work they do or call and schedule a tour to actually see their skill in person here in the forge.