We have all experienced a situation where our parents especially our mothers would strictly advise us to handle some items in the home with care dating back to how those items were gotten. My mom would say that an item has been with her even before she got married to my father. I remembered the day I broke a precious item of my aunt and I couldn't stop hearing the history of how she got it. She took me back to her early youth days as it was a gift on her birthday and seeing it while I am over 20 yrs surprised me so much.
Things have changed a lot today and I feel shocked to see how things are fading away gradually until they become worse because no one is paying attention to them or should we say greediness crept in and made them overlook doing the right thing.
Something that has faded away and would want to bring back is the value of craftsmanship in everyday items. We all use one item or the other every day and seeing how they don't last gives us this sad face and realise how we got the money to get them and without staying for long, they have become useless.
In the past, people took so much pride in creating high-quality items/products that were built to last for long, such as furniture, clothing, household items, etc. However, with the mass production and inflation that has taken over, products aren't made to last again and this makes us question what has changed. Some people aren't even bothered again as they prefer to produce cheap and low-quality items that lack durability and character.
However, we wouldn't want to think in that direction and start blaming in the wrong way as other problems have caused these craft makers (artisans) to start producing low-quality products. Some of the problems are;
High exchange rate: Presently, the Nigerian currency is valueless and the dollar keeps rising, which has caused inflation and made these materials expensive in town. This high exchange rate has adversely affected them and resulted in the high cost of imported materials and these craft makers cannot afford it, especially when consumers aren't ready to pay high.
Cheap imported goods: One of the problems of these craft makers is the inability to compete with other people who bring in cheap products, mainly sourced from China. These products come from countries that have high infrastructure, have access to more labor force and also engage in more efficient production capabilities which results in keeping their production low. If we are to look at it, most of these products may not be of high quality but because of the high cost of things in Nigeria, these local craft makers find it hard to compete with them as they have cost-conscious customers who prefer to move over to the cheap imported goods and ignore these craft makers. In the end, they start to look around for cheap materials to produce their items which wouldn't be of high quality.
Lack of capital: This is another challenging issue with these craft makers when they do not have enough capital to make quality items but make do with the little in hand just to make profits. When these people go to banks to take a loan, they are required to use their houses as collateral whereas they don't have anything to use as one. This has become so difficult for them to secure capital to finance their businesses.
These and some others are problems that cause these local craft makers to produce low-quality products and the government aren't paying attention to this so that things could become better again. Bringing back a focus on craftsmanship would not only aid in high-quality products, but would promote sustainability and also support these producers and their businesses. Not only that, it will also encourage customers to purchase items that are high in quality, paying attention to details in these crafts, appreciating the efforts of the artisans while contributing to a more sustainable lifestyle.
Image was created by me on Bing AI, edited on Canva
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