Tag: Manufacturing

Craft vs Manufacturing

Posted on by Seung Chan Lim 0

“I keep learning
the same lesson
over
and over
and over again.”
said the founder.

“I don’t know what
is wrong with me.”
she lamented.

“May I share a story?”
I asked.

“Yes, of course.”
said the founder.

“Before I went to art school,”
I began.

“I thought craft
was outdated.
After all,
craft
makes you repeat yourself
over
and over
and over again.
…
Why do craft,
when we have machines?’”
I explained.

“That makes sense.”
said the founder.

“Then I learned
that life
is a craft.

There is no machine
that can live
for us.

If it did,
it would no longer be
our lives.

Yes,
craft makes us
repeat ourselves
over
and over
and over again.

But that
is life.

What craft does
is it trains us
to learn
from the repetition.

Creating vs Manufacturing

Posted on by Seung Chan Lim 0

You didn’t create
unless the form of the output
was unexpected.

If it was,
then you were manufacturing.

Nothing wrong with either,
but it can be frustrating
if you enter the manufacturing process,
with the desire to create
or if you enter the creative process,
with the desire to manufacture.

Broken, I am.

Posted on by Seung Chan Lim 1

Jim Carey once said,
he acts,
because he’s broken.

For those who judge
“brokenness”
as “bad”
may feel triggered
by that comment.

But what I learned from art,
is that if “broken” implies
1) separated in parts
or 2) producing results
that defy our expectations,
then both
are requirements
for innovation.

Because parts
must be separated
before they can be
recomposed
into a new whole.

And the kind of whole
we seek in innovation
is the kind
that defies our expectations
enough to move us
in often surprising ways.

If being broken
means that I can not only
understand and appreciate,
but also artfully express
the depth and nuance
of the human experience
in ways I could not
otherwise have,
such that I impact the world
in positive ways,
as has Jim Carey,
then broken,
I am.