When you are ordering a handmade product do you look for perfection, or imperfection?
Similar but not the same: the back loop is different sizes, the red back joist of the stripe tie is not the same as the on of the blue tie.
Maybe you know better than me or maybe you don’t but perfection in the handmade should not exist; yes because perfection, we handmade craftsmen, leave it to the machines; that is, the only ones capable of repeating equality over large numbers always perfect.
Those who have set their lives based on custom-made and handmade products are great devotees of the flaw. They actually seek the imperfection of uniqueness. And such imperfection, obviously small, is the only guarantee that we stand before true handmade.
In tailoring, the culture of flaw goes a lot through uniqueness; each garment or accessory produced is a unique, unrepeatable subject; because you the customer order it always the same in terms of aesthetics but one will always be different from another. For example, I have had several suits made by the same tailor but one is similar to the other but never the same.
And the culture of defect provides for love of everything that is not perfect.
Some examples? For our ties it means maybe not making all the stitches perfectly equidistant; for those who make bespoke suits it translates into not making all the lapels perfectly the same for the same customer. And let’s say that these small imperfections are found in all categories of craftsmen.
So the more widespread the culture of the flaw, the more artisan uniqueness there is in the world.