iconWhy Handmade Is Better: 6 Key Reasons to Support Artisans

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Why Handmade Is Better: 6 Key Reasons to Support Artisans

Cheap, mass-produced products are everywhere. They peek at you from the aisles of Target, Walmart, and even your grocery store. They pop up in ads on your social media, inviting you to purchase shiny new things for only a few dollars.

But in a few months, these same items will clutter your back closet, local thrift store shelves, your trash bin, and the landfill.

AtCherie Kay, we believe there’s a better way. By purchasing handcrafted items, you can fill your home with pieces you truly love that will last a lifetime.

Today, let’s explore the six reasons handcrafted is better.

1. Quality Items Save Money in the Long Run

It’s only $15.

As you eye the cute purse advertised on Instagram, the price tag seems irresistible. Why would you spend $80 or more on a genuine leather bag when you can buy something this cute for a mere $15?

So you buy it, and after three months it finally arrives, a bit crumpled, smelling odd, but almost as cute as the picture you saw online. But the cuteness doesn’t last. Six months of heavy use later, the fake leather is flaking dreadfully while the gilded coating on the chain handle has started to wear off.

Let’s do the math: If you continue using your $15 purse for a whole year despite its shabbiness and then replace it with another low-quality $15 purse, in ten years, you’ll have spent $150 on purses. But if, instead, you spend $100 on a genuine leather purse, after 10 years, you’ll not only have saved $50, but you’ll have continually carried a nice purse instead of a shabby one.

Look, we get it: not everyone has $100 to drop on a purse. But cheap things are cheap for a reason. When looking at handcrafted items, it’s common for people to balk at the price tag and think about how much cheaper they could buy the same item on Amazon.

So, it’s important to remember that, in the long run, buying handcrafted, high-quality products you genuinely love will actuallysave you money.

2. Handcrafted Items are Unique

Do you ever feel like everyone’s house is starting to look the same?

Whether it’s a “Live Laugh Love” sign or a print of ahighland cow, major decor brands seem to copy each other in a race to fill our homes with the same generic, mass-produced items.

If you love the trendy items at your local store, that’s great! But you don’t want your home to look like an Airbnb – instead, it should be a place of comfort and belonging that’s personal to you and your family. The beige pillows from Hobby Lobby will never fill you with joy like the handmade heirloom quilt on the back of the couch or the framed photo of your wedding that hangs in the stairwell.

You want your home to feel special. You want it to feel likeyou.

That’s where handcrafted items come into play. Handcrafted goods allow you to fill your home with unique items that reflect your taste and values instead of the same mass-produced things everyone else has.

3. Handcrafted Items Can be Customized

Do you ever have an idea in your head of a specific item, only to search online in vain, as everything you find is just not quite right?

What if you could pay someone to make that item exactly how you envisioned it?

Whether you’re lookingon Etsy or at your local craft fair, the great thing about craftspeople is that you can chat with the real, live people who make these items about the cost and logistics of ordering something custom.

Many craftspeople even offer customization options upfront. For example, here at Cherie Kay, we have a whole collection of home decor itemsyou can personalize with the names of your family or children. 

By going to your local handcrafter, you can often get exactly what you want!

4. Buying Handcrafted Items Helps Your Local Economy

It matters where you spend your money.

If you buy something on Amazon, most of that money goes to line the pockets of the ultra-wealthy, while some of it goes to workers in an entirely different community.

But if you buy handcrafted items made by craftspeople in your area, that money goes back to the community. You’re supporting a local artist’s job. You’re helping your neighbors and friends live to their highest potential. They may use that money to eat at a local restaurant or shop at a local small business, reducing financial insecurity in your community and helping everyone live a better life.

Your money will be used to pay local taxes that will then fund your local schools and libraries. If it’s given to charity, it will probably go to a local charity.

In other words, spending on local handmade goods boosts the economy in your area and ultimately improves the lives of you and your neighbors.

5. Handcrafted Items Fight the Problem of Waste

If you look through catalogs from 100 years ago and plug the numbers into an inflation calculator, you’ll notice something interesting: goods keep getting cheaper and cheaper.

In 1910, a pack of three pairs of socks from theSears Catalog cost $1.09, which is about $35 today. But right now, you can go on a website like Shein and find a pack ofsix pairs of socks for $1.50.

How is that possible?

It’s a combination of factors, including technological advances, global trade, cheap synthetic fabrics,economies of scale, andexploiting workers.

If you’ve ever put in the time to make yourself something, you hang onto that item, even if it’s not your favorite. Why? Because you know how much effort you put into it, and the item therefore has value to you. 

But when you buy those $1.50 Shein socks, you don’t value them at all, and they’ll go right into the trash the minute the cheap fabric wears out or makes your feet uncomfortable and sweaty. 

Earlier, we discussed how cheap items are more expensive in the long run because you have to keep replacing them. But we didn’t discuss this: when you keep replacing items, it createsan enormous waste problem that pollutes our planet.

The higher price tag and labor of love that goes into handcrafted items ensures that we’re not treating these items as disposable. We choose them carefully and keep them for as long as possible.

6. Somebody Made This With Love Just For You

Pick up the item lying nearest you. Maybe it’s your phone, your computer mouse, a mug, or a pen.

Somebody made that.

Someone designed it and chose the color. Someone mined the raw materials, and someone else oversaw their refinement. Someone ordered the materials and sent them to a factory, where workers sewed the seams or clicked the pieces together. Someone packed it in a box, and someone else drove it to your door or placed it on a shelf in a store where you picked it up.

But when we write with our pens, sip from our mugs, or pull on our socks, we usually don’t consider the humans involved in making them. We treat them as though they fell from the sky, fully formed and fully disposable.

Three hundred years ago, when the clay pots in people’s homes still bore the thumbprints of the potters who made them, this wasn’t an issue. Everything in people’s homes was made by themselves, by the shoemaker down the street, or by the local carpenter’s grandfather 70 years ago, now passed on through the generations.

Today, buying handcrafted helps us honor our items by lessening the distance between us and the people who make our things. The small imperfections remind us that these were made by people, not machines. At local craft fairs, we can talk to the craftspeople, who can explain the thought and care that went into the craft.

When we realize the effort and passion behind the piece, it makes us value it even more.

Cherie Kay – Handcrafted Home Decor

AtCherie Kay, we are a small family business dedicated to the craft of beautiful, inspirational home decor. We aim to help you find pieces to cherish as you showcase your unique taste. 

We offer:

  • Beautifulart prints with a vintage, timeless flair

  • Inspirationalword art, including Bible verses and fun, uplifting quotes

  • Canvases that can becustomized/personalized with the name of your family or your child

We prioritize excellent customer service, so if you have any questions about what we offer, don’t hesitate tocontact us!

We look forward to hearing from you.