Being very stressful this week, the only craftsman who said yes did not reply to me afterward, which means I have nobody to interview, also means I need to change the whole structure for my video. Now, I need to create a new outline about what I will display in this video, excluding the interview part, the rest video length is a big hole for me to find other information and fill in. What Dan told me today is the best idea to concatenate my everything together. If I could make a timeline about leather industry changing for thousands of years, the video would appear more meaningful, and the content would be more clear.

I was confused about how much I should show in the video which is enough to demonstrate the understanding of Old and New Media. Maybe how to show the relevance clearly in the video could help me to figure out this doubt.

What I still need to do is find more creative commons footages about the history of leather and the industrial revolution, it is difficult to find a useful one. However, asking the permission from many public online resources seems much more impossible to me.

Luckily, my roommate’s friend, who is an amateur about hand making leather stuff, brought some necessary tools from China to Melbourne, and she was happy to lend them to me but refused my suggestion about filming the interview. I asked her about what made her feel interested in making handmade leather goods; she said her original intention was making a birthday gift for her mom, but she was deeply caught in this craft now.

While I was editing the video, I started to search and do some readings for my final reflection. William Morris is the one I mentioned in the first blog post. I think some of his proposition helped to keep the craft survived in the industrial revolution. I will do more research about him because my friend told me he is a very famous people in the craft field.

It is a pity that I cannot film the process of making leather goods. Also, this project makes me want to shoot a detailed video about this craft while I go back to China which can let more people know it and be interested in this work.

I chose to do the Handmade Leather Goods topic because I think I am quite familiar with this industry. I used to make leather bags, leather wallets and Leather covers for the notebooks. I searched lots of information about different types of leather and compared the style trend between the 18^th-19^th century and now. Which also Making easier for me to connect with the OLD MEDIA and NEW MEDIA topic.

I already have a brief idea about what I am going to do, but unfortunately, I am stuck in some realistic situations. Two weeks ago, I started to contact as more craftsmen as I can, people whom I found on Instagram and wanted to use their photos and videos, I emailed them and got most of them replied positively. Individuals who have a workshop or store in Melbourne, I called them, emailed them and also texted them, some of them replied me and rejected persuasively. They said they are too busy in the workshop to have people taking videos at this point. Only one craftsman said yes but no more progress after I started to check the interview time with her. Currently, I am very nervous in the video part, what if I cannot have any interviewee, this will be the biggest part for me to figure out next.

The history of leather can be dated back as early as 1450 B.C. in Egypt. The Romans used leather both for footwear and clothing and for making shields and harnesses. In the Middle Ages, the union system has developed in Europe. Leather manufacturers also produced a trade association, so the technical progress and production also became more flourished. The rise of the industrial revolution in the eighteenth century led to the study of leather manufacturing science and the opening of the workshop to increase the production. Especially in the nineteenth century invented the chrome leather, but also improved the mechanical class, lay the foundation of today’s leather industry. After creating the engineering industry, why are people continuing to make leather goods by hand? How can craftsmen find the balancing point between the mechanical industry and 100% pure handmade? What are the differences between the line production leather goods and handmade leather goods?

William Morris, who was a leading member of the Arts and Crafts Movement, showed a better way in the 19^th century how passion The Arts and Crafts Movement (1850-1900) was a reaction against the Industrial Revolution. The members of the Arts and Crafts Movement included artists, architects, designers, craftsmen, and writers. They feared that industrialization was destroying the environment in which traditional skills and crafts could prosper, as machine production had taken the pride, skill, and design out of the quality of goods being manufactured. They believed that handcrafted objects were superior to those made by machine. What I think is this movement makes lots of handmade skill come down. I’d also like to ask how new craftsmen think about William Morris’s proposition and this movement.

As the filming, I think I will do more extreme close up to show details about all the leather goods. Also, if I cannot find any interviewee, I would like to change the video to another style which is not determined yet.

Reference:

http://www.leatherresource.com/history.html (History of leather)

http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/graphic_designers/william_morris.html (William Morris)