A Word on Homewares: Reasons to Buy Handmade Instead of Mass-Produced
Handmade goods are now more popular than ever before. Recent polls show that many customers prefer buying products that are handmade instead of mass-produced. If you’re someone who typically shops from large retailers, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about with these products.
When it comes to mass-produced homewares, they often look identical, break easily, and don’t offer a lot of aesthetic value. On the other hand, handmade designer homewares are unique and meticulously crafted and add a dose of style to your living room and dining room. Here are six reasons why you should consider buying handmade items for your living space.
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1.Each Piece is One-of-a-Kind
Each handcrafted item is different from the next one. Even if you purchase more of the same model from the same designer, each one will have unique characteristics that keep it from being an exact replica.
For example, this Australian homewares designer creates gorgeous tableware, vases, and other items out of resin, each one with a unique colour and texture. So, instead of using plain white porcelain dishes and metal cutlery, why not spice up your mealtimes with unique handmade items?
The fact that you can’t get anything just like these items in any other shop is what makes them so special. A piece of art that not many people possess is often more valued than something that you can find everywhere.
2.Support Your Local Economy
Nowadays, more and more people create their own businesses and produce everything from scented candles and jewellery to furniture and other practical items, including luxury homewares. For this reason, I believe that handmade items represent the future of the world. By purchasing such an item, you support your local economy and help hardworking artists make a living from their efforts.
When purchasing handcrafted goods, the majority, if not the whole purchase price goes to the artist who created them, not to a business that pays only a small portion of the revenues to their workers. This way, you’re directly assisting the maker in meeting basic needs like feeding their family and paying their bills.
3.Higher Quality
Compared to mass-produced products, those that are hand-crafted often have fewer flaws. This is because the artist devotes special attention to each piece. A handmade homewares designer creates each product one at a time and they pay close attention to every last detail. Not all products will be the same, but the distinctions have more to do with style than quality.
One downside of hand-crafted homewares is that they’re sometimes more expensive than their mass-produced counterparts. However, consumers are often prepared to pay more for something with superior quality than for low-quality factory-made products.
4.More Sustainable
Are handmade goods more sustainable? While many factories worldwide pollute our air and water, small businesses use sustainable practices. A lot of Australian homeware designers try to minimise the waste that they produce and cut down on energy consumption. Their products are often made by a single person or a small group of individuals, which results in less pollution.
Instead of a huge warehouse filled with piles of extra supplies, many artists create their handcrafted goods in their own homes or tiny workshops. Making handcrafted products encourages artisans to be more responsible with recycling and trash disposal. Also, some of these goods have recyclable components that can be reused after the product reaches the end of its lifetime.
5.They’re Created with Love
Handmade homewares designers are passionate about the products they’re creating and the way they’re creating them. These artists constantly find ways to innovate and improve their products, because they’re so connected with their work. They create their pieces with careful and loving hands instead of machinery.
This makes handcrafted goods even more unique. You can think of it as possessing something that, every time you use it, it creates a connection with the person that made it. Products made by hand unquestionably have a lot of heart and soul put into them!
6.You Can Easily Get in Touch with the Artist
I’m sure you’ve dealt with customer service representatives that didn’t offer much help and had little to no knowledge of their industry. These kinds of circumstances often arise after purchasing homewares from a large manufacturer and needing a return. The staff lets you wait on the phone for hours to get through, and occasionally, they’re rude to you for no reason. If I’m guessing correctly, you don’t want that kind of customer service.
Buying from independent designers who craft each item by hand is a different experience. In this situation, getting in touch with the designer and rapidly finding a solution is considerably simpler. When you make a purchase, you often receive their contact information, allowing you to quickly get in touch with them if you want to know more about the product or need to place a custom order.
Compared to the websites of large businesses, those of individual designers typically have a much smaller and easier-to-navigate user interface. This makes buying homewares an easier process overall. When you consider all the advantages of buying hand-crafted homewares, you’ll discover that buying and using one is just the right thing to do. You’ll protect the environment, support an artist, and have a product that not many other people have.