The Beauty of Buying Handmade
This past month I had the pleasure of commissioning a custom portrait of our puppy by a local artist, as a birthday gift for my fiancé. Working with her was a breeze, and there was nothing quite like the look on his face - and the combination of tears and laughter that came out of him - when he first opened this gift, that had been made gift just for him. And that’s the beauty of custom artwork - it’s made just for you. What could be more special than that?
As a sentimental soul, I love giving gifts that are infused with meaning - a nod to someone’s favorite food, or place, or song. We give so many gifts that are just new things - a new sweater, pair of socks, coffee mug - and while these new things have meaning and beauty in their own right, what if you could imbue someone’s personal history and memories into them? In a world full of carbon copies and mass production, why not give something one-of-a-kind? This is why custom artwork is at once more expensive, and at the same time, priceless - because it cannot be remade. And I think that is so, so beautiful.
As I write this, I am looking around my home - a gallery of handmade memories. The painting of the view in front of our summer home, made by a family friend. The coffee table made from an old luggage cart, refinished with beautifully stained wood by my fiance. The house portraits of our childhood and current homes, made by me. These gifts are all distinctly mine and distinctly ours, and they make me feel more at home than something store-bought ever could.
As we go into gift-giving season, I encourage you to think about how to incorporate this handmade element into your gifting. Whether you can afford to commission a custom oil painting by your favorite artist or simply etch someone’s initials into a new hammer, it doesn’t matter. It matters that you took the time, to give something with your someone special in mind. Something that only you could give, something that only they could receive. And I promise you, the look on their face will make all the extra effort worth it.