Showing posts with label inspiring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspiring. Show all posts

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Economists Versus Craftsmen - No contest!


The Craftsman

One of the joys of having no watchable TV means that you are constantly straining to find new input.  Friends of mine in N Ireland were almost unique in having no TV and their home was such a lovely sanctuary filled with music and books in piles.  I remember most of all their sensitively and spirituality.  Interested in everything from art to science, travelling to music it was like bathing in a different atmosphere.  Here, on Malta, I found a pile of old Economists from three years ago and am devouring them.  Find the economic predictions interesting and at times have to stop myself chortling at the self-satisfied smugness of financial experts.  With the benefit of hindsight much of their insights come across as the ramblings of smug enthusiastic schoolboys.  But then again when you have the luxury of knowing what actually happened then predictions can seem all too flawed.  You find yourself suddenly doubting the assumed wisdom of these so-called experts.  So it is nice reading about something that perversely keeps its integrity despite the passage of time.  It is an obituary about Alan Peters a furniture maker from England whose love for his profession comes through in his art. 



He handled wood as a lover and his dedication to arts and crafts was as natural to him as breathing.  He claimed a perfect drawer had to slide in on a cushion of air, and when pulled out had to cause the other drawers to retract, very slightly, into the almost airtight case.  He stroked wood and understood it, claiming that reclaimed Victorian wood was ideal as drawer sides as it was as stable as it ever was going to be, while solid sweet smelling cedar of Lebanon was perfect for the drawer bottom.  But his desire was always to make an honest and simple piece, one he could put his name to.  I knew nothing about his work but the more I read about the arts and crafts movement the more noble and inspiring it seemed.  Especially, compared to those seedy economists.  Even their attitude to work raised my spirits, here is a quote by William Morris from an address at the Annual Meeting of the School of Science and Art, The Wedgwood Institute, Burselm, 13th October, 1881

“I know by my own feelings and desires what these men want, ...employment which would foster their self-respect and win the praise and sympathy of their fellows, and dwellings which they could come to with pleasure, surroundings which would soothe and elevate them; reasonable labour, reasonable rest. There is only one thing that can give them this -- art.”

Given present day working conditions that much of the world slogs under this seems aspirational indeed.  Note the date, it would appear that those in the arts and crafts field got off to a head start on the rest of us!  Doesn't it make you want to take up a hammer and chisel in a quiet workroom with the smell of fresh wood surrounding you?  But, perhaps what I like most about this profession is the results.  Your breath is taken away by the simple elegant honesty of their workmanship.  Here is no sleight of hand or sales talk the pieces speak for themselves.  They speak of the artist that made them, their integrity and passion.  Alan Peters, learned his trade as an apprentice to purists like Edward Barnsley, who spurned power tools of any sort.  So, perhaps, this is how excellence is attained, it is built on the shoulders of other quiet giants.



“Arts crafts and sciences uplift the world of being and are conducive to its exaltation. Knowledge is as wings to man’s life and a ladder for his ascent. Its acquisition is incumbent upon everyone.”

― Bahá'u'lláh

Saturday, 19 May 2012

The Path


I asked my son to make an inspiring video that I could use in a course I was teaching for women returning to science and engineering.  All of these women had stopped working in their fields to bring up children, look after parents, move abroad or because of serious health issues.  The course was designed to get them back into employment.  It was inspiring to have such wonderful groups of women all over the UK trying to get their career back.  When one got a job interview the word was spread via online conferences and momentum build up with others taking the plunge as well.  Towards the end of the course several got job offers and we all felt their triumph and shared their success.  In these days of economic trials things are even harder.  So here is the video for anyone who is interested.  At times it is tricky to read but I like it!


Friday, 4 May 2012

inspiring story

Nice to see some one turn their life around in such an inspirational way. Enjoy!