THOUGHTS ON THE HISTORY OF JAPAN’S SPIRIT OF CRAFTSMANSHIP.
Much of the initial impetus for Jacques Marie Mage wanting to create limited-edition luxury goods comes from our admiration for Japan’s legacy of artisanship. The country has at its foundation a long, inspiring history of traditional crafts that informs not just their workmanship, but their worldview.
Japanese craft dates back to an era when humans settled on its islands, with roots in the rural necessities of ancient times. These products, such as pottery, textiles, and swords, were needed by all strata of society, and the skills to produce them were transferred from generation to generation, usually involving a lengthy apprenticeship with the master of a workshop.
With the end of the Edo period and the advent of the modern Meiji era, industrial production was introduced, and Western objects and styles started replacing the old. Although handmade Japanese craft was once the dominant source of objects used in daily life, modern-era industrial production and imports from abroad sidelined less efficient modes of work in the economy. The traditional craft began to wane as tastes and production methods changed. Specific crafts that had been practiced for centuries were increasingly under threat, and forms such as sword-making became obsolete.
Although these crafts were eventually placed under the protection of the government, it took some time for their intangible cultural value to be fully recognized. This is in no small part due to those artisans who continued faithfully making their traditional crafts while devoting themselves to enhancing their skills and supporting Japanese people’s lives and cultures with their handiworks.
Such devotion to their craft, driven by work ethic and discipline, is known in Japanese as shokunin, which translated means “mastery of one’s profession.” It’s a term that not only embodies the physical requirements of a craft but a perspective that emphasizes the communal value of creating things that others can use and enjoy. As the great woodworking artist, Tasio Odate once said: “The literal description does not fully express the deeper meaning. The Japanese apprentice is taught that shokunin means having technical skills and implying an attitude and social consciousness. The shokunin has a social obligation to work his/her best for the general welfare of the people. This obligation is both spiritual and material.”
This approach often seems at odds with the West, in which careerism encourages advancement and upward mobility, often at the expense of deepening a single skill or dedicating oneself to a sole endeavor. Here, blue collar workers are often derided as ambitionless, whereas in Japan, there is no shame in any profession, as long as you take your work seriously. In the West, consumerism demands products that are cheap, fast, and disposable, whereas, in Japan, manufacturing is largely influenced by meticulous attention to detail and a desire to make things that last. It's an attitude the Japanese describe as Shokunin kishitsu, or “craftsman's spirit,” and it's the motivating force behind the quality and care taken to create Jacques Marie Mage eyewear. It conveys the philosophy that no matter what profession you have chosen in life, it should be done for the benefit of the community; that the pursuit of perfection and self-mastery should not be strictly for personal gain, but for the betterment of society; that it is worth taking pride in what you do, dedicating the necessary time and applying the necessary effort to create a product or contribute to a process that enriches people’s lives. And it's about the transmission of these hard-earned skills to future generations so that the traditions of craftsmanship can evolve and continue.