{"id":293,"date":"2019-09-30T08:45:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-30T07:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artisancentral.fr\/blog\/?p=293"},"modified":"2020-07-28T08:47:22","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T07:47:22","slug":"what-is-an-artisan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/what-is-an-artisan\/","title":{"rendered":"What is an Artisan?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Say the word \u2018artisan\u2019 to someone in the UK and they\u2019ll think you’re about to try and sell them an expensive loaf of bread from a \u2018boutique\u2019 bakery. Come to France and you’ll see signs saying ‘Zone Artisanale’ pointing towards large industrial estates that seem to promise nothing but warehouses and white vans. So, what IS an artisan exactly? We’ve been finding out…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a lot of British people, the word \u2018artisan\u2019 is typically said in relation to things we eat. As self-declared \u2018artisan bakers\u2019, The Flour Station, admit in a blog on celebrity chef Jamie Oliver\u2019s website<\/a>; \u201cIt\u2019s a term you see a lot in the food world these days, along with \u2018craft\u2019, \u2018fresh\u2019 and the vaguest of all, \u2018real\u2019. They\u2019re usually used to signify care, expertise and quality of ingredients.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why the Rye Smile? (sorry, pun totally intended)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, for a lot of us, the term has also become something we associate with over-priced goods and underhand marketing \u2013 and it\u2019s hardly surprising why. Back in 2011, Good Food World reported<\/a> on the rapidly growing use of the word \u2018artisan\u2019 as a way of describing food items, including supermarket bread, mass produced frozen meals and even pizzas from large fast food chains! They offered this explanation as to why that might be happening:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe authentic meaning and application of artisan alludes to a simpler time when people took pride in their craft: It\u2019s about special and unique. Today, the draw for real artisan products is born out of a movement deriding overly processed, mass-produced foods linked to big corporations\u2026 in practice, when companies use artisan as a moniker they are attempting to create a shortcut to denote higher quality and premium\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Real Deal<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So, are the French trying to hoodwink us with their use of the word \u2018artisan\u2019, too? In short, no. In fact, it\u2019s not always used as a deceptive marketing ploy in the UK either. Take a look at the actual definition of the word, as given by the mighty Oxford Dictionary<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOUN. 1. A worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand.
Eg.\u00a0\u2018Street markets where local artisans display handwoven textiles, painted ceramics, and leather goods\u2019<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The word \u2018artisan\u2019 can be used in reference to all sorts of trades (including all of those listed right here at Artisan Central). It\u2019s important to note, however, that although the word can be used in this way, in the UK, it generally isn\u2019t \u2013 instead, we tend to use words like \u2018tradesperson\u2019 or \u2018craftsperson\u2019. And perhaps that\u2019s because it\u2019s not a word the English invented\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Art of Labelling<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The word \u2018Artisan\u2019 is a French word which came into existence during the mid-16th century, according to the Oxford Dictionary, having evolved from the Latin word \u2018artitus\u2019, which itself comes from the word \u2018artire\u2019 – to \u2018instruct in the arts\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, can we describe them as artists, too? Strictly speaking, no \u2013 there\u2019s an important difference between an artisan and an artist, hence the existence of both words. Who better to explain the distinction than the people behind the appropriately named website, differencebetween<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe key difference is that while the product or output of an artisan has a clear functional value, this may not be the cased for an artist. The output can be an expression of the beauty of art itself without having any functional value.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, there\u2019s no denying that many of the things made by certain artisans aren\u2019t just functional, but objects of beauty, too (check out Bespoke Makers\u2019 guest blog listing 10 of the best ideas for using off-cuts of oak!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s Official!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For the French, \u2018artisan\u2019 isn’t just their preferred way of referring to a tradesperson, or a skilled craftsperson – it’s the legal way. There\u2019s no marketing nonsense going on here, just a plain and simple description of someone\u2019s line of work, with it being one of the four main professional business groups in France (the others are commer\u00e7ants, professions lib\u00e9rales and agriculteur), as real estate website, French Property<\/a>, explains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are around 250\u00a0artisanale\u00a0activities, which can be divided into four main categories:<\/em><\/p>

i. Food Processing\u00a0– As well as the manufacture of food and drink products, this category includes the retail sale of meat and fish in specialist stores and on market stalls.<\/em><\/p>

ii. Building and Construction\u00a0– As might be expected all building trades are covered here, but it also includes alarm installation, civil engineering, mining and quarrying.<\/em><\/p>

iii. Manufacturing\u00a0– The whole range of small-scale manufacturing activities, other than food, are contained within this category, eg. textiles, furniture, clothes, machinery, printing.<\/em><\/p>

iv. Services\u00a0– Finally, there is the category of ‘services’, which includes repair and maintenance of vehicles, florist, removals, taxi, hairdressing, antique restoration, cleaning, and beauty care.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So next time you see a sign pointing towards a Zone Artisanale<\/em> or pick up a flyer or business card for someone purporting to be an artisan of some sort, you needn\u2019t doubt them, whichever country you\u2019re in. Unless, of course, it happens to be a large pizza chain or a mass manufacturer of bread!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Say the word \u2018artisan\u2019 to someone in the UK and they\u2019ll think you’re about to try and sell them an expensive loaf of bread from a \u2018boutique\u2019 bakery. Come to France and you’ll see signs saying ‘Zone Artisanale’ pointing towards large industrial estates that seem to promise nothing but warehouses and white vans. So, what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[51,50,52],"class_list":["post-293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice","tag-artisan-versus-artisanale-france","tag-categories-of-artisan-in-france","tag-definition-of-artisan-in-france","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296,"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions\/296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}