‘The Workmanship of Risk and the Workmanship of Certainty’

by David Pye

32-page manuscript book, written out in Chinese ink with gouache illustrations on Indian Hemp Cream paper with Zerkall Ingres Orange endpapers, bound in Somerset Toned White card cover with handmade paper jacket. 280 x 160 mm. Completed in May 2023

Once more, a piece using a text that relates to craft practice - in this case from David Pye’s famous book The Nature and Art of Workmanship, which was published by Cambridge University Press in 1968. In my view, he is quite right to be critical of the lack of precise standards around our notions of craftsmanship, which he believes stem from the doctrines of the Arts and Crafts movement.

In the extract I have chosen he tellingly juxtaposes printing with calligraphy. I certainly feel the force of his remark about being able to ‘spoil the page in innumerable ways’, as anyone attempting calligraphy will understand, though much as one tries to keep a consistent letterform, the charm of calligraphy consists precisely in the shakes and unforced irregularities that inevitably result from the movement of the human hand.

I would also go along with him to a certain extent in the remarks that conclude the extract I have chosen: ‘Yet in principle the distinction between the two different kinds of workmanship is clear and turns on the question: “is the result predetermined and unalterable once production begins?”’ But I would qualify the above when considering e.g. printing where two sheets passing through the same press can vary markedly, depending on all sorts of factors which a skilled operative will be constantly adjusting for.

So, while craftwork certainly entails risk, its opposite - mechanical work - is not without risk, which renders Pye’s view not wholly conclusive.