The Craft Thread: A Bootmaker in London
A companion story — when the world stops waiting for the maker
Kaveri pairs The Pot Maker with a second story to read: Quality by John Galsworthy. Put them side by side and the whole unit opens up. In The Pot Maker, a craft is saved — passed from mother to daughter against the odds. In Quality, a craft is lost — a master bootmaker is slowly destroyed by a world that no longer waits for handmade things. Two stories, one question: what do we owe the people who make things by hand?
"But Mr Gessler?" "Oh!" he answered, "dead." "Dead! But I only received these boots from him last Wednesday week." "Ah!" he said, "poor old man himself." "Slow starvation, the doctor called it!" "You see he went to work in such a way! Would keep the shop on; wouldn't have a soul touch his boots except himself." "When he got an order, it took him such a time. People won't wait. He lost everybody." "But he made good boots." "Yes," I said, "he made good boots."
The Pot Maker and Quality — two endings for one question
Put the two stories together and you have the whole argument of this unit:
In Quality, the new shopkeeper says big firms 'get it by advertisement, not by work.' Gessler made the best boots in London — and still lost. Is the craftsman who refuses to change admirable, foolish, or both? And does Sentila's craft survive for reasons that could also have saved Gessler?
Take a moment to form your answer before reading further.
Q1.How does Mr Gessler die in Quality?
Kaveri pairs The Pot Maker with a second story to read: Quality by John Galsworthy. Put them side by side and the whole unit opens up. In The Pot Maker, a craft is saved — passed from mother to daughter against the odds. In Quality, a craft is lost — a master bootmaker is slowly destroyed by a world that no longer waits for handmade things. Two stories, one question: what do we owe the people who make things by hand?
"But Mr Gessler?" "Oh!" he answered, "dead." "Dead! But I only received these boots from him last Wednesday week." "Ah!" he said, "poor old man himself." "Slow starvation, the doctor called it!" "You see he went to work in such a way! Would keep the shop on; wouldn't have a soul touch his boots except himself." "When he got an order, it took him such a time. People won't wait. He lost everybody." "But he made good boots." "Yes," I said, "he made good boots."
The Pot Maker and Quality — two endings for one question
Put the two stories together and you have the whole argument of this unit:
In Quality, the new shopkeeper says big firms 'get it by advertisement, not by work.' Gessler made the best boots in London — and still lost. Is the craftsman who refuses to change admirable, foolish, or both? And does Sentila's craft survive for reasons that could also have saved Gessler?
Take a moment to form your answer before reading further.
Q1.How does Mr Gessler die in Quality?