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Back in December of 1997, the [Baren] printmakers' group which I had founded earlier that year was coming up to its first Christmas. The group was at that time still very small, only a few dozen members, and there was quite a congenial friendly feeling to all the discussions.

One evening I sat down to send out a holiday greeting to my friends in the group, and before I knew it, a visitor had dropped down the chimney. 12 years later, the message is still fun to read. Here it is, partnered with an illustration that my (then) Japanese coach - Takayoshi Sakazaki - created for it. (Or if you wish, you can listen to it, in .mp3 format.)

The Night Before a Printmaker's Christmas

'Twas the night before Xmas, and all through the shop
No printmaker was stirring, work was all at a stop;
The tools were hung up in their places with care,
The workbench was clean, on it nothing was there;
The gouges were nestled all snug in their rack,
Carved blocks were beside them, piled up in a stack;
The brushes on shelves, the chisels in a case,
The pigments in drawers, all was in place.
When up to my ears, there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Down to the workshop I ran on the floor,
Turned the key in the lock, and flung open the door.

The moon in the window threw light on the scene;
I rubbed my eyes wildly, was all this a dream?
For my tools were all jumping, from rack and from shelf,
They came running and dancing, each moving himself!
On the bench stood the baren; to my disbelief,
He called them around him, he must be the chief.
More rapid than lightning, the tools they all came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now 'washi', now 'sumi', now 'nomi' and 'hake'!
On 'hangi', 'enogu', with 'nori' and 'take'!
To your place on the bench, from your place on the wall,
Get to work! Get to work! Get to work all!"

I stood in amazement as they all started working,
The scene was a bustle, not one tool was shirking.
The knives and the chisels cut lines in the block,
As the baren stood watching, one eye on the clock.
While the carvers were busy, the others . . .
[Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here]

Continued from [If you were my manager : Part Three] | Starting point of the series is [Part One]

So far in this little sequence of posts discussing some business aspects of my work, we've looked at some currency issues, and begun to think about the next project. I mentioned three factors that would be important considerations in making that decision:

• my own satisfaction
• customer satisfaction
• economics

But before I get too deeply into trying to work out a future project based around those things, I want to try a little 'thought experiment'. If there were no such constraints in place; if I had a completely free hand to do whatever I wanted ... what would I do? What would I make?

Now that's actually not an easy question to answer. If you think about it for yourself (with respect to your own life and work), you will find that, although any of us can quickly come up with suggestions on this and that, it's by no means certain that such suggestions would actually make sense in the long term. The classic example of this is the guy who 'wins the lottery'. Sure, it's easy at first; quit your job, buy a big house, take the great vacation, etc. etc. But then what? Having unlimited resources doesn't help you, if you don't have some kind of motivation or structure to what you are doing.

If all my constraints were suddenly removed, and I became free to make (say) a project that wouldn't have been feasible because the result would have been too expensive, what happens next? I make the thing, it sits there. What do I do, give it away? What would it mean to have made it? Sure, maybe it would have been a technical achievement for Dave, but without the integration with society that has been stripped away by the 'magic wand' support from 'outside' ... so what?

I'm perhaps being clumsy in my attempt to express this idea. There was a Dilbert cartoon in my newspaper just the other day (very strange timing, actually) about this.

Now I don't believe that particular phrase is true, but the point Wally was making - the stuff this guy is producing must be of no value to society, as demonstrated by the fact that he can't make a . . .
[Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here]