What do you understand when something is listed as "hand crafted" or "hand made"?

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#1

Hi, There are many products I see that say hand crafted or hand made. However, we know most of these must have used some machines e.g. jigsaw, drill/driver, sander etc.
So, I am wondering what can you label hand made without feeling unethical or unlawful?
I hope that makes sense. I would love to get the opinion of someone who sells stuff but is in this situation.
Thank you.
Ryan

#2

I think of hand sown textile things or hand chiseled wooden objects or hard drawn art

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#3

I mean, I feel like a lot of product labels would consider IKEA furniture that you put together to be “hand made”. In reality, pretty much everything manufactured has been assembled at some stage by hand. A mass produced H&M t-shirt was sewn together by a person. At the other extreme, unless you’re using your fingernails to carve into some wood, tools are used to create everything you use.

“Hand made” is just a marketing term, and I treat it as such.

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#4

I would say if all of the component items are machine produced and very simple ‘hand assembly’ follows then not exactly ‘hand made’ but that would depend on the level of assembly and finishing required I suppose.

I’d say if not mass produced and the majority of the processes involve a human then ‘hand made’ or ‘hand crafted’ are interchangeable and fine to use…?

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#5

I think you are right. Although I have some marketing experience, and kind of thought that before I started this thread, I just couldn’t be sure what people were expecting. I have learn over the years not to assume that everyone else thinks the same as me…I am creating stuff almost always using some tools. I didn’t want to feel guilty that I intentionally mislead someone or fall foul of some law that I wasn’t aware of concerning “trade descriptions”.

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#6

Thanks that makes sense. Most people in the making or creative space would probably mostly fall in this area - I think.

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#7

I’d recommend starting with what you’d want the buyer of the product to feel when purchasing or researching the thing. Do you want to give a feeling of authenticity? Uniqueness? Customizability? Something else? What’s your differentiator from competition? Begin with those questions and develop the proper messaging from there.