[CR]Re: Handmade, good, better, best.

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme:2002)

From: <BobHoveyGa@aol.com>
Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 14:16:26 EST
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org, mail@woodworkingboy.com
Subject: [CR]Re: Handmade, good, better, best.

In a message dated 2/29/2004 7:59:33 AM Eastern Standard Time, Dennis writes:
>The attentively made and attractive bike is "better" if you enjoy looking at it as well as riding it. <snipped>
>Chances are also that the craftsman/artist enjoyed the process more than the guy standing at his machine work station (no offense).

Very true, but the other hand let's not forget that some of these workstation guys may produce work with a charm all it's own, not unlike the folk-craft popularized by Soyetsu Yanagi in "The Unknown Craftsman". Such work, made "without noticing" as Yanagi described it, had a simplicity and charm that was often unmatched by the sometimes self-conscious fussiness of the true artist. I think when we appreciate the skillful tour-de-force of some of today's top builders, we may also have a tendency to overlook the charm and simplicity of some of the small European shops of the 50's and 60's where lug filing was considered functional rather than aesthetic, and if the shapes weren't quite symmetrical or had a few rough file marks, well, too bad.

Bob Hovey
Columbus, GA