The Importance of Craftsmanship
Personality is woven, moulded and polished into a product during the design and making process.
At MONC our core values are based on designing high quality items that last, whilst creating a personality within each product. I know – ‘a personality within a product?’ – it sounds like crazy talk. But when you buy something, how often do you know what it’s made of, where it’s come from, and who’s made it?...Exactly.
Personality is woven, moulded and polished into a product during the design and making process. It’s the people involved in sourcing and making the things we use, and in the 21st century a consumer’s ability to purchase a product with ‘personality’ and substance is almost diminished. However, we’re seeing a quiet uprising; in times of social, environmental and economic uncertainty, people are starting to realise the impact of seasonal throwaway culture, and concentrating more on quality and longevity.
The value of long-lasting products is something that often comes with experience. How many times have you purchased something cheap only to realise that it lasts for five minutes? A garment that doesn’t fit which loses colour after a few washes, or an item with a value so low that you simply don’t care about it and ‘misplacing it’ doesn’t really matter.
Something made by the hand
of a skilled craftsperson is unique
Over time you end up repeat purchasing the same things until you’ve spent more than if you’d considered buying a well-crafted product in the first place! Something made by the hand of a skilled craftsperson is unique, and don’t we all want something unique?
When creating MONC in 2016, the goal was to create products with consideration that support true craftsmanship, whilst celebrating the design process. We want to work with people and build relationships with them as we both journey through the design and making process.
To find a maker for our sunglasses frames took over two years of travelling, inquiring and searching to find a small workshop that aligned with our core values but also focused on small batch production using traditional techniques – why? Due to handmade techniques every frame is slightly different. This special experience for our customers is what brings charm to a product – so we sometimes leave fragments of polish on the frames even when sending them out to the customer; subtly exposing the character and nature of each frame.
Through supporting craftsmanship we want to create products that you never have to throw away - in our experience this comes when working with real artisans, whose skills mean that every product has it’s own personality and story.
