Valuing Craftsmanship: In particular the crafting of Chinese porcelain and Dutch Delft Blue

“How important are crafts for a society?” When a conventional economist gets the question, the answer is most likely about the prices of craft products, the income of craftspeople, and the contribution that the crafts sector makes to GDP.
This thesis gives another answer. Applying the cultural economic perspective it stresses the notion of “crafts culture”, and with that notions of quality, values, and shared practices. It argues in particular that the meanings of Chinese porcelain and Dutch Delft Blue comprise more than their physical properties and their costs and benefits. By analyzing the story of trade between China and the Netherlands, it explores what kinds of values are discursive in crafts, and furthermore shows that a human-based conversation underlies the values that people attribute to crafts.
This thesis shows the values of traditional crafts and craftsmanship, and provides crafts people, economists, and politicians with a different view on the world of culture, and the crafts in particular.