carving cartoons

CraftVillageUK is a web portal for a community of soapstone carvers in Kenya designed to allow them to sell their intricate carvings directly to consumers worldwide. According to their website, the carvers earn four times as much per sculpture by selling through the web, and their earnings represent a significant increase in quality of life. Unfortunately, these skilled carvers – descended from a long line of historic soapstone carvers in the region – are being asked to carve portraits of the cartoon characters from the Simpsons, which are then sold for $75 through the website. It seems in bad taste to promote local economy by imposing cultural forms from US mass media – but more importantly, would these pop statuettes sell if they were listed on the website alongside examples of traditional (regional) carving?

via

This entry was posted in 3d, art, conviviality, fabrication, futurecraft, marketing, supply chain, traceability. Bookmark the permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.