Marquetry Now - An Interview
In 2019 I was pleased to be interview by Sarah Wong, then a design student in her final year's study at university, gathering information for her dissertation. Her particular interest was "the role and value of handicraft marquetry in this current society" - right up my street!
Since then Sarah has not only graduated but is now a successful designer maker, not only in marquetry but in other materials as well. The quality of her work is such that she is followed by marquetry luminaries like Jack Metcalfe and Ryan Andrusky. I can't claim any credit for her success but I am proud that the interview may have helped with some thoughts for the future! I recently went back to the interview and realised how the insightful questions also made me think hard about what I am doing and what are some of the challenges and opportunities right now in marquetry. Here is a copy of the interview.
In the meantime you can follow Sarah's career on her website and on instagram:
https://sarahcwwong.wixsite.com/mysite . and
https://www.instagram.com/sarahwdesigns/
Here is the interview:
Do you think the fact that your marquetry pictures are handmade are as important as it being a bespoke fit? Do you think people are drawn to the concept of the handmade (process) as much as the finished product?
I think the fact that they are handmade is what attracts people more than anything. One reason is that they know that a handmade picture is absolutely original, whether using their design or mine. This is important for them as buyers either for their own home or to enhance their workplace. It takes much longer to do handmade than to use a laser but as soon as you get into laser you are using machine technology. This is shown in the price – you can buy a mass produced marquetry picture at Covent Garden for less than £50 but you can see that it is machined and also the finish is not good – it takes me many hours not just to do the picture but also to apply an acrylic lacquer finish. I guess the Mona Lisa for example is worth millions because Leonardo only did one and not print off hundreds!
With the advance in technology, there are so many other methods out there - such as laser cutters and online software that will assist the production process of your marquetry pictures. By why do you choose to use the most traditional and manual method of hand carving instead? What is the irreplaceable feature of the handmade?
I have partly answered this in the first question, but there are other factors as well. One, which will also come up in later answers, is that I see myself as standing on the shoulders of generations of marquetry artists who have gone before me. Marquetry actually goes back as far as the ancient Egyptians and has a centuries old history in many continents and cultures. When I look at 500 year old marquetry in Florence or Sorrento I can almost see the ancient craftsmen at work, using much more difficult equipment and thicker veneers, and feel as though we are related. I paid tribute to this on a picture I did for a veneer company of a current craftsman working on the floor of Westminster Hall. I placed a copy of a self portrait by Italian marquetarian Antonio Barili in the top left corner – this was produced in 1502. I called it ‘young master and old master’ to show that golden thread you are talking about.
I also grew up at a time when marquetry was more popular than it is now and was taught by my uncle from the age of ten. My own children have not carried on the tradition but I feel it is important to keep alive something that has been around for centuries, just as you keep an ancient oak tree alive despite all the hard work, rather than cut it down and plant a conifer. It speaks to the past.
Do you think people are returning back to these hand produced techniques as a response to this mass manufactured society?
I don’t know if people are returning to them as producers but they are as consumers and one of the reasons is a dissatisfaction with mass production. There are also important organisations that are working to keep ancient skills alive, though mass production has made it harder to earn a living. I am proud to be a member of the Heritage Crafts Association.
Although you are concentrating on veneers, you may wish to have a look at what we do and the number of amazing crafts that people are still keeping alive in the UK – it will also provide an extra dimension to your questions! The website is at https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/
Returning to your question I think that people will always prefer some things to be original than mass produced but cannot always afford it! It is also the old argument about art versus utilitarianism. For instance there are many things that all of us need and it would be crazy for them to be handmade as they would never reach all the people who need them. Take the humble pair of socks as an example! However people do appreciate beauty and quality and we artists and craftspeople sneak into that niche.
Pre-industrially, craft was considered lower than something like art. Production of craft was for more functional purposes. How has the role of craft shifted as the integration of machinery become stronger?
Great question. As a design student I am sure you are aware of the Arts and Crafts Movement of the late nineteenth century. What you may have missed is the best description – and a better answer to your question than I can give! I recommend this link to the V and A website: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/arts-and-crafts-an-introduction
It will help answer the question and also make a big contribution to your dissertation. Similarly the Bauhaus Movement in the early twentieth century addressed the same issue of the relation between arts and crafts and identified a need to make craft a focal point in design and architecture. Again here is a good link: https://mymodernmet.com/what-is-bauhaus-art-movement/
I think that in contemporary society we have learned from those movements, but mass production and consumerism have led to different approaches. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Andy Warhol’s baked bean and soup can paintings show how the artist can celebrate the mass produced and commonplace. Then there is the niche market for craft, for example Rolls Royce and other luxury car models still have specialist crafts people to produce the wooden panels and steering wheels for their cars.
Do you think handicraft loses its identity and meaning for the consumer, if they do not identity the product as being hand made because of the perfected skill level?
It can do and has done in my case and although it is good to be seen as having produced something that is high skilled, the assumptions made about it can be annoying. This happens especially at exhibitions. I have been told that I must have used a laser, or more bizarrely, “ah, so you paint pictures on plywood?” It is hard to explain to some people exactly what I do so I always take a work in progress so I can show them.
With technology replacing a lot of the practical difficulties that the ‘hand’ might have taken years to achieve, what role do you think handicraft represents at the turn of the 21st century?
I think I might have answered this earlier. People will always appreciate the original (as long as it is good quality) and the professional marquetarian has an advantage in that they are not just producing work to satisfy themselves, but undertaking commissions to meet the particular needs of a client. For example one commission I did was to do a replica vinyl album cover for a Bruce Springsteen fan. In terms of what goes on the wall they could have just stuck the original cover up there but to have something in wood gave them a unique piece of art, that becomes a focal point of the room as well as being aesthetically pleasing. It is one form of art paying homage to another.
Do you think this return to craft is mainly a reaction to this disposable culture? Is the current interest in handmade, bespoke objects sustainable?
Again I think I may have jumped the gun by already answering the first part of this question. Whether the interest is sustainable depends on a couple of things. One is the mainstreaming of alternative more technological approaches, like laser or 3D printing. Because laser works to fine details it would be easy to actually build in slight ‘flaws’ that make the work look bespoke. This is important because art has always thrived on being slightly imperfect, usually for spiritual reasons. Michelangelo allegedly built an imperfection into his work ‘because only God is perfect.’ The Navajo believe that when weaving a rug they are weaving part of themselves into it and so they leave a little imperfection into it for the same reason. Many Islamic artists followed the same principle. As soon as lasers catch on we could be in trouble! The other potential difficulty is that globally we are living in difficult times and without being political I can see a danger of bespoke objects becoming less sustainable because they will be less affordable – though an alternative argument could be that financial problems could lead people to make more of some artefacts but not of less utilitarian ones.
Do you think the internet is an important factor for consumer’s knowledge on the available services for handcrafted marquetry? How much does the internet impact consumer demand?
There is a big battle going on between professional marquetarians for places at the top table on the internet, with some of them spending vast amounts of money on advertising, paying web designers and falling for promises by people who make a living enhancing individuals’ presence on the internet. For myself I do my own web design and updating, have researched the factors on a website that get the most hits, and make sure reviews are up to date and verifiable – and I seem to be quite high up at the table, sometimes top and usually top three for 'bespoke marquetry'. I probably get about 60% of my work through people seeing it on the internet. This includes my website, Instagram and facebook (I have stopped using Twitter until Donald Trump is in prison). The other 40% is from exhibitions. That is where people can see my work ‘in the flesh’, can see and touch it properly, and ask questions. It is not uncommon to come away from an exhibition not having sold one picture. That is not a problem because the requests come later and from an informed point of view. So yes – the internet has a big impact on consumer demand. I am guessing you have looked at different websites and seen the work other marquetarians do – and a lot of it is excellent. However, I feel that mine is unique because of the themes I choose, usually based on my own photographs, and that combination of ‘heritage skills with a contemporary twist’, at the same time rooted in representational art.
Where do you think technology stands in relation to handicraft? Is it a barrier, supporting agent or neutral?
Technology is actually a big support for handicraft and people do not always realise how much. First of all, information technology is a massive support. I have already mentioned the internet, but there are two other important factors for me. The first is the use of software to help prepare my final template. Photo editing software makes a big difference to the final picture, especially as most of my pictures are from my own photographs (and as a further example I have now ditched my Canon DSLR for the latest iphone Pro Max. The quality is fantastic.) The second might seem a small thing but it is massive in terms of labour (and cost) saving and producing a great final template. Some of my commission requests are for massive pictures, for example a 24 square foot beach scene for a client in Florida. 20 years ago I would have started with the original photograph, then got a big sheet of wallpaper, drawn squares on it, drawn squares on the photograph and tried to transfer what is in each square to make a bigger version, not always accurately. Now, using a plain excel spreadsheet I just copy the photograph into the spreadsheet, resize it to the size I want, load up the printer with a shed load of paper and start printing – in that case 40 sheets. Then I find a big space and glue all the sheets together to make a big, equally proportioned final copy. It is then just a question of using silk tracing paper to make the template.
The second aspect is the wider use of technology in the workshop. Although we have discussed the fact that working by hand seems to run counter to quicker approaches, there have actually been big technological improvements in our work in recent years. Craft knives, particularly the Ernie Ives knife, are more ergonomically designed. Cutting boards last longer. MDF has its detractors but it is perfect for marquetry because it never warps. Abranet dust free sanding ensures that the craftsman’s number one enemy – dust – is a thing of the past. Modern wood glues are clean and efficient. And the advances in acrylic lacquer make for a perfect finish – a good point to stop here. Thanks for some thoughtful and insightful questions!