The Nature and Art of Workmanship

A must-read book on David Pye’s theory of craftsmanship and design.
In this thoroughly mechanised age, what is the point of craft? Does it make any sense to work with hand tools when machines can do the same job faster, and in many cases better? What visual richness do we lose by embracing a mass-produced world?

The Nature and Art of Workmanship explores the meaning of skill and its relationship to design and manufacture. Cutting through a century of fuzzy thinking, David Pye proposes a new theory of making based on the concepts of ‘workmanship of risk’ and ‘workmanship of certainty’. And he shows how good workmanship imparts all-important diversity to our visual environment.

No-one who works with tools and materials, or who designs things for others to make, can afford to be without this penetrating book. This newly revised edition includes an illustrated foreword by John Kelsey, former editor of Fine Woodworking magazine, on David Pye’s own turned and carved vessels of wood – beautiful, insightful pieces that embody the truth of Pye’s ideas.