Lasky spoke at the 2009 American Craft Council’s thought leadership conference, Creating a New Craft Culture, sharing examples from the history of industrial design and their impact on social change. She showed the following clip, a simultaneously hilarious yet sobering example from the final scene in the 1954 film Executive Suite, where William Holden’s character passionately admonishes the board of Treadway corporation to remember how the organization’s true longevity and health is maintained.

“We have an obligation to our stockholders, but it’s a bigger obligation than raising the dividend. We have an obligation to keep this company alive. Not just this year or next, or the year after that. Sometime you have to use your profits for the growth of the company, not pay them all out in dividends to impress the stockholders with your management record. There’s your way, Shaw! There’s your inefficiency! Stop growing and you die! Turn your back on experimentation and planning for tomorrow because they don’t contribute to dividends today, and you won’t have a tomorrow. Because there won’t be any company.” From 1954’s Executive Suite, directed by Robert Wise.

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Dick Huss Glass Minneapolis

Sennet’s discussion of craft attracted a curiously diverse group of academics; curators; graphic, interior, and industrial designers; architects; studio craftspeople; entrepreneurs; indie crafters; gallery-owners; and political advocates who are ready to grapple with issues relating to the economy, culture, social responsibility, sustainability, and design. In his keynote, he defined craft as a sustainable set of practices that accommodate not just product-driven development, but also research, experimentation, and the reflection of the maker. Sennet reminded us that many of our systems are designed to focus on delivering short-term economic benefits in lieu of quality, and that this is neither sustainable nor desirable—as clearly seen in our recent global economic meltdown. There have been highly influential, open source coding languages like Linux that came into being through experimentation and the pursuit of quality as opposed to the monolithic, obligatory 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 software releases driven by profit incentives. In the academic realm, Sennet also pointed to the reliance upon standardized tests, which reward students who get the correct answers within limited periods of time. “Can you imagine what would happen to a student who was thinking, ‘B is the right answer, but C is the more interesting answer’?” he asked. Without a culture that supports open-ended exploration, experimentation, and innovation, said Sennet, “we are facing quite a damning state of affairs indeed.”

Other speakers extended this line of thinking. Elissa Auther, assistant professor of contemporary art at the University of Colorado, gave a talk entitled “Lifestyle and Livelihood in Craft Culture,” which illustrated lifestyles that historically integrated values such as quality and craftsmanship, and in doing so, succeeded at a higher level than those functioning merely in the service of capital. Lydia Matthews, academic dean and professor of visual culture at Parsons, The New School for Design in New York City, discussed emerging economic models of studio practice, creative research, and entrepreneurship that not only value financial capital, but also social, cultural, ecological, and physical capital. She quoted from Joseph E. Stiglitz and Amartya Sen’s work on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, reiterating that what we measure indicates what we value, and is subsequently what gets our attention and resources.

Several compelling case studies of highly profitable businesses based on these broader definitions of craft, quality, sustainability, and social responsibility were presented during the conference. For example:

• Kristin Marie Tombers, owner of Clancey’s Meats & Fish, sources her beef, pork, and chicken locally, and has elevated the craft of raising, butchering, and distributing foods to an entirely new form. Animals are raised without cruelty, and are roaming freely on farms. Local farmers are employed, and the carbon footprint is minimized.

• Natalie Chanin, co-founder of the American couture line Project Alabama, has started a revival of Depression-era quilting and stitching techniques with her hand-sewn couture garments. Crafted with recycled and organic materials, her clothing has been covered in prestigious international fashion publications including Vogue, Women’s Wear Daily, and Elle. Her company, Alabama Chanin, employs a substantial network of cottage industry workers in the rural South that might have otherwise had to rely upon government assistance.

• Robin Petravic of Heath Ceramics revitalized a sixty-year-old dinnerware and tile company with his wife, Catherine Bailey. As former designers for Nike and Lightsurf, they knew how introduce modern, marketable designs into their product line while retaining the craftsmanship, experience, and knowledge of Heath’s employees—some of whom have worked at Heath for over forty years. Heath models responsible business practices as a means to achieving long-term economic vitality and viability. The company experienced sizable growth in 2009 and is adding jobs.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts

Despite the profound optimism illustrated in these case studies, however, the conference offered a reasonable counterbalance of information regarding the state of affairs of craft in America. In particular, Rob Walker, a consumer behaviorist, contributing writer and columnist for the New York Times Magazine, and author of Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are, encouraged the group to view commentary on trends with a grain of salt. While he acknowledged the movement toward handcraft—spotlighting in particular the success of Renegade craft fairs filled with homegrown indie-crafters and the media attention given to Faythe Levine’s documentary Handmade Nation—he was careful to remind us that for every data point that might suggest consumers are ready to embrace homemade goods, there are equally valid examples, such as the proliferation of iPhones, that show they are not remotely interested in giving up mass-produced products. The most meaningful way to look at this data, said Walker, is as a natural tension that exists between our conflicting desires as both consumers and humans. We want mass-produced stuff when it makes sense and we want unique products and experiences that satisfy our need for independence and authenticity.

This notion of balancing tension between seeming opposites was a consistent undercurrent at the conference. There, the old guard of seasoned, highly educated national museum curators and academics mixed with iPod-carrying, cozy-crocheting, DIY indie-crafters and Martha Stewart supporters. Even Garth Clark, writer, commentator, former gallery owner, curator, and author of nearly fifty books on ceramic art, gave a come-to-Jesus presentation, criticizing the American Crafts Council for being out of touch and confessing his own regrets over his lack of leadership during the art world’s “Palace Period” from 1980 to 1995. Clark described his recent creative epiphany at Burning Man, which had the young believers lining up to the microphone in adulation during an extended Q&A, and the old guard lining up to denounce his heresy.

Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis

Adam Lerner, founder of the highly experimental Laboratory of Art and Ideas at Belmar, presented random topics like Kristin Marie Tomber’s Meat Fabrication talk juxtaposed against formal art and design subjects such as Prairie School Architecture, in order to expand our awareness of how art relates to life. He likened the folding of his organization into Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art and his subsequent appointment as museum director to “the class clown turning into the class president.”

As Rob Walker explained, in order to truly analyze behavior, especially the tensions between conflicting behaviors, we must create some kind of resolution to expand the conversation and our understanding of craft. Only then we can consider how all the different views expressed during the conference contribute to the vibrant patchwork of this vivid new craft culture—a craft culture that will ultimately give a society built on the wobbly foundation of short-term gain greater meaning and stability.
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You can read the entire Twitter conversation here. David chose to respond to my last tweet via email, and gave me permission to share our conversation. Our emails have been slightly pared down on this post for brevity’s sake.

Here is the question that I posed:

Kelley @AnthemHealth David, in your opinion, what can/should we be doing to assure that the U.S. is a healthy, cared for nation? How can we help?

Kelley-

I’m most certain that you would much rather be communicating w/ family or friends instead of an insurance exec, but I do appreciate your interest and time.  Since we last tweeted, we have counseled the service associate w/ whom you first spoke.  I am most confident that the challenges you experienced will not recur.

Regarding your question, here are the 6 elements of health care reform about which I am most passionate and believe in the most:

Principles for improving quality and managing costs:

• Promote evidence-based medicine; determine real-world outcomes;

• Advance health care quality by disseminating information throughout the health care system;

• Focus on prevention and managing chronic illness;

• Improve effective use of drug therapies to prevent and manage illness;

• Promote strategies to reduce medical errors and adverse drug events;

• Reduce costs through eliminating fraud, reducing costs related to litigation and improving administration.

At the end of the day, we all need to eat healthier, exercise more, deal w/ stress more effectively, sleep more and generally take better care of ourselves.  These are all w/in our control and likely will have the greatest impact on us all staying healthier longer.  The challenge as I am certain you too know it, is in changing our behavior – it is both the easiest and the hardest action we each need to take.

If I may ever be of service to you, please don’t hesitate in reaching out.  In the meanwhile, I’ll keep my eye’s out for your articulate posts.

David-

My Response: Thank you for your help David. I am glad my issue was a simple administrative one to solve. I am thrilled that the experience could be used as a case study and a teaching moment for your staff. That gives me tremendous pleasure, and I’d love to do more (as I tweeted.)

I copied all of our tweets in chronological order onto a “notes” page on Facebook and shared it with other executives with whom I have both personal and professional relationships. I chose these people in particular because of their social media, academic and/or technology expertise, and was excited about the conversations and comments that came in. In my note, I commented that what was most meaningful to me in speaking with Cara was outlining the customer touchpoints: where the failures happened and what needed to be addressed in order to make corrections. Wow! What a privilege!… Cara made me feel like my experience could be a part of the solution… All my friends could say is, “Go Kel Go!”

I am excited about your comments below, especially about prevention. My mom, Julia Brown, has been in biotech her whole career and I’ve been listening to this stuff forever. LOL!

…

The coolest thing from this whole experience, which is also the essence of the successful use of social media, is that in one instant you went from being “the man” to being David. More than anything, that’s what people need (people) when they’re scared, and sick and struggling. It would be amazing if this experience could be replicated for the millions affected.

Let me know if you need help with the revolution! I’m in.

Best, K

Kelley-

I’m very pleased that Cara was able to make such a good impression.  She is terrific.  I also appreciate your kind words and positive “press” w/ your family, friends, acquaintances and even reporters…In the end though, what matters the most to me is that you aren’t as frustrated w/ us anymore.  I have no issues should you choose to use our interactions as I have enjoyed our ‘chats’ even if they have only been in brief character strings.

…meanwhile, I’m always here, listening and ready and willing to assist in any way I can. Look forward to our future interactions.

Be & stay well Kelley.

david-

Art Credit “Lost Connection” by Dr1983 http://dr1983.deviantart.com

The image has been cropped for better visibility on this blog post. To view the full image, please see http://dr1983.deviantart.com/art/Lost-connection-95146818

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Here’s just another fascinating social media case study and example of how one person can gain audience with people who would otherwise have been out of reach. Apparently Wellpoint was concerned enough about the impact my little tweets, which broadcast my vehement complaints against Blue Cross CA to my 1800+ followers (a modest # by Twitter standards), that I got a personal call. More than anything, I suspected my calling them on their “me too” social media strategy (by calling them corporate posers with a Twitter account) was what really got under their skin.

Here’s the Twitter conversation in chronological order:

Kelley: Spent another hour w/ Blue Cross dealing with the issue we’d resolved Aug14. I’ll be sending them my bill for training their staff.

@marquearts Kelley, r u enrolled w/ B Shield or B Cross of CA? If B Cross I’d like 2 undrstnd what we did wrong. customerservice@anthem.com

Kelley: @AnthemHealth You would really like to understand what you did wrong? Apologies in advance my Twitter followers, multiple tweets coming.

Kelley: @AnthemHealth I contacted you in July asking why 2 healthy kids should be paying $400 (your increase) a month for coverage.

Kelley: @AnthemHealth Your rep directed me to changemycoverage.com where I was told the policy was not eligible. So I went back to eHealthinsurance

Kelley: @AnthemHealth On eHealthinsurance I signed up for a health plan for my kids that would still allow them to see their existing doctors.

Kelley: @AnthemHealth Why couldn’t the original Blue Cross rep have guided me from a $400 a month policy to a $94 a month policy?

Kelley: @AnthemHealth Then I called on August 14th, because I was still getting billed for the old policy. Paid up the old one.

Kelley: @AnthemHealth When I called (once again! My LORD people don’t you realize I have a JOB???) YOUR REP GOT IN MY FACE.

Kelley: @AnthemHealth So I FILED AN OFFICIAL COMPLAINT AGAINST YOUR WILDLY AND INAPPROPRIATELY RUDE CUSTOMER SERVICE REP.

Kelley: I will be sending you a bill for 5 hours of my billable time. Due upon receipt, of course. RT @AnthemHealth #FAIL

Kelley: Sincerest apologies again my lovely tweeples for this morning’s rant. I know I’m not alone in my rage against the U.S. health care system.

@marquearts Kelley, thank u for taking the time 2 share ur frustration. Will u please email me a contact #? customerservice@anthem.com

@AnthemHealth If you guys are going to try to go social, you’re going to have to know how to look up someone’s profile info…

@AnthemHealth Otherwise you’re just another corporate poser with a Twitter account. If u seek me, u will find me.

@marquearts Ok, interesting approach…and yes I read ur profile, but w 30+M members u aren’t the only K. Padrick. Regardless, I will find u

Kelley: @AnthemHealth Well, there are 4 ways to contact me on my homepage. Or else Twitter users can Direct Message one another- no email required!

Kelley: @AnthemHealth And please. No BS about my not being the only K. Padrick amongst 30+M members. You got my name off my Twitter profile.

Kelley: @AnthemHealth Remember buddy/buddette YOU CONTACTED ME on Twitter, not the other way around.

@marquearts Kelley, I recvd a note from Cara that u & she spoke. Were we able 2 better address ur earlier askd qustns? Please let me know.

Kelley: @AnthemHealth Yes, Cara called me and she was very responsive & did a terrific job listening. Thank you David.

Kelley @AnthemHealth David, in your opinion, what can/should we be doing to assure that the U.S. is a healthy, cared for nation? How can we help?

@marquearts The ultimate question 2 which my industry needs 2 b able 2 better respond. I’ll share my thoughts in a DM w/ u 2morrow. G’Nite.

Art Credit: Kareem Magdie  http://kaweempo.deviantart.com/
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It is just one of the techniques Chico perfected while studying under Bavarian glass blower Peter Strauss in the 1990s. After his apprenticeship, Chico traveled the world extensively before settling down to build his studio in Seattle. There, he works on a variety of projects in addition to his art glass, including custom installations and sculpture.

Photo Credit: Earica Brown