How Do We Make Things in a Commoditized Consumer Culture?

It’s not easy to make things locally. Other countries subsidize manufacturing and invest heavily in manufacturing infrastructure. Special tax free economic zones and other dials have been turned in places to jumpstart manufacturing. Most things in the world are deeply commoditized. You can buy most home goods very cheaply at a 99 cent store.

Let’s think about that for a second. I can buy a 16 ounce glass from the 99 cent store for… 99 cents. Someone, far away, mined the raw materials, they were transported to a facility where a significant amount of energy in the form of heat was applied to it and those materials were formed into a glass. It was likely hand finished and then packed in a box where it was taken on a truck to a ship, sailed under power accross the world, put on a train accross the country, put on another truck for store delivery and then stored in a climate controlled environment until I buy it and somehow everyone in the supply chain got paid. There is something powerful here about scale. Each thing in a 99 cent store has been created in a facility that I imagine makes millions of these things a year. It boggles the mind that this is the world we live in. It is nearly unfathomable.

Commoditized consumerism is the fulfilment of the industrial revolution where things are relatively inexpensive for a large portion of the population. Automation in manufacturing and transportation is going to continue this trend into the future.

In a world where most things are commoditized, we have become a species defined by our ability to consume. Commoditized consumption is the primary force driving our society. Many people measure our successes as a country in GDP, and many people measure our success as a culture by our ability to buy things. How can you stand up and oppose commoditized consumption and the mass manufacturing of functional but arguably low-quality things? There are really only a few ways to rebel:

• Stop consuming as much as possible and go minimalist.
• Buy or make things that will last a long time
• Buy or make things that are sourced sustainably and that can be repurposed or recycled when you are done with them
• Be that person who repurposes and reuse things that other people have bought

These commoditized consumption rebellions aren’t independent of one another, you can mix and match these to leave less of a footprint and bring more meaningful things in the world. I have a feeling that being minimalist is the new hip trend. I’ve already seen friends reduce their lives to a backpack and they appear to be very happy. Back when I moved to NYC, I outfitted an entire apartment from stuff I picked up out of the garbage.

I have put together a team of 11 creative explorers with a mission to make heirloom quality gifts with craftsmanship. We’re still in stealth mode, but we’ll be getting ready to launch products soon. My hope is to empower my team to explore the frontier of craftsmanship in service of friendship.

There is no way we can compete with the 99 cent store on price. For me to make the glass that I could buy at the corner store for 99 cents would cost me at least $30 in materials and labor and more if I include overhead - insurance, taxes, utilities and rent. Creative explorers are faced with a challenge, how can we thrive making things in a commoditized consumerist world?