Minimalism & Practical Art

Minimalism & the Practical Arts together is both a partnership and a paradox.

At its core, Minimalism is about appreciating the intentional value of each and every item we own. To that end, all unnecessary items are discarded iteratively, leaving only whats essential and of value to us.

Practical Art are art forms that service ordinary or material needs. One can understand it through its manifestations - woodworking for furniture, smithing for tools, pottery for house wares.

At the onset, these two concepts work hand in hand in a partnership. By crafting the things we need, we inherently give value to our product, both for the fact that it fulfills our need, as well as the fact that it was created through our hard work and efforts. As a leather crafter and woodblock printer myself, I find functional use in my practical art in that I am able to make wallets, pouches, bags where I require, and carve block stamps for various writing purposes.

However, what I've come to realize of late is that, just as how the two paths first formed pathways towards each other, like how two straight lines meet at a singular intersection, the two paths will eventually start to move away from one another.

At some point in our journey of practical art, we begin to create so much more than the things we actually need, and each new piece holds increasingly less value to us. But, there is still a constant need to create, to experiment, and to hone our skills as artists.

How then, can we best balance these opposing poles?

My answer, is to constantly seek meaning. A sense of purpose should be what drives us to create, lest we find ourselves crafting in excess, and wasting perfectly usable resources to craft things which sit unused because it was created mindlessly without meaning.

There is no use for an object that does not meet the needs of the user.

By constantly find new meaning for our work, be it to meet a friend's request, or replacing an old and broken item, one can maintain the balance between honing the arts of practical craft, and underlying beliefs in minimalist principles - both on the surface, where each piece of work will truly be of value, as well as philosophically, where the process of crafting of such items become an exercise of intent in its purest form, from the thought put into design all the way to the way each item is finished and presented to its intended owner.