A postcard from temptation
The story of luxury
Over the weekend I came across an online craft marketplace (which unfortunately, for some of the quality vendors, looked like it was coded in Geocities). Many of the goods, which personally stood out to me, were traditional craftware, re-imagined and re-designed in variations of tote bags woven from rattan and clutches made from pandanus leaves.
Their prices, in an urban setting, I would say, is comparatively low (if not, cheap). I looked at a document bag, woven out of bamboo that was going for less than US$90. And there was only one piece for each design as they were all made by hand. (The temptation was so real, I kid you not.)
I wondered, here we are, so close to craft—the quality, the artisans—yet we clamour to put the works of French embroidery and Italian leathercraft on a pedestal labelled “luxury”. In shiny window displays, fitted with the latest crystal LED screens, gold emboss, and, as seasons call for, a pop-culture icon printed on its already widely pirated monogram.
Meanwhile, the traditional crafts(wo)manship that has been passed down from generations, which took months to procure and produce, is sold (and perhaps, thus, valued) at a pittance; its prices, likely bargained for along the way, by the middle person, or casual buyer at the craft market, who will later spend that 10 dollars she saved on a coffee and pastry without a second thought.
Why is it that we value the manufactured and the branded, but overlook the local inter-generational artisans whose complex and mesmerising weaves, I daresay, outshine the standard plain weave of a Bottega Veneta?
Is it merely the material? Leather VS Rattan?
Do we consider the occupational hazards of harvesting and processing rattan, bamboo or screwpine leaves?
Is it the post-colonial lens, which has been passed down through inter-generational trauma?
Is it the millions (if not billions?) of Euros that have gone into branding, marketing and advertising?
Is it because the “luxury” brand’s country of origin has been proudly backing and repeating their story to many others in trade shows and campaigns over the decades?
What makes us accept and regurgitate a narrative?
This week, I’m
watching: ‘Molly of Denali’
working on: preparations for Saturday’s ‘Food Writing — With a Purpose’ workshop with the Singapore Book Council (use the code SBCPlates10 if you’re keen to pull up a [virtual] seat)
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