An Appreciation of Craftsmanship

  • Shihui Yang
'Hand-craft cannot be taught by words, but is only gained by practice and exercise.' - Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises
'Something learned with your body rather than the mind.' - Glenn Adamson, Handy-Crafts: A Doctrine, What makes a great exhibition?.
Inspired by the above two quotes, An Appreciation of Craftsmanship is an interactive book that gives insights to the unique skill that craftsmen possess. Using paper to demonstrate, the book shows how a highly skilled craftsman is so familiar with a certain material that one can tell the difference in its quality between a few sheets of blank paper just by feeling or looking at it. The book contains four different categories: size, weight, type and thickness. There is no specific orientation to allow readers to have more interaction with the book and experience the book in different ways. It may seems like a plain white book at first glance but, at a closer look, each page is blind embossed with the quality of the paper giving the book a subtle and quiet character, just like how a craftsman is like. It is held together by two nickel screws separating the thickness category with the rest to allow readers to experience it more accurately.