Adaptive Manu­facturing ^2014-2015

This object is the result of the ­designer’s search for the lost traces of human activity and the connection with industrial manufacturing traditions of objects. With this production process they literally bring back the approach and activity of the craftsman in a machine­-made object.

The beauty of the Sung ceramic is, ­according to Yanagi, due to the humble attitude of the creators ­towards ­tradition. Because tradition is the ­accumulation of centuries-old wisdom, that offers sailors a compass at sea.

Illiterate craftsmen may, as individuals, be small and weak, but supported by this Given Power of tradition, they are able to produce work of astonishing merit with the utmost ease. ( ... ) any craftsman can unfailingly produce
a beautiful work of art. But if he loses sight of the long tradition behind him, his work can only be that of a bumbling incompetent.

For Yanagi the force of the simple way or the way of decoration is the same as that of tradition. Surrender and trust are essential in this. In the craftsmen’s language, this translates into an endless repetition of the same actions in order to perfect them time and time again.

^{A Wild Thing, p. 102}