My kid, Nora Reed, penned an insightful thread yesterday about the nature of the their work – they run a jewelry shop, still not too late* for holiday gift giving! – and the nature of craft and art:

a thing i think about a lot when figuring out both packaging for the business and the basics of what i am selling is that jewelry acts as a vessel for meaning.

all art is like this, it carries the associations an individual has with the point in their lives they first experience it, but art that is made particularly for gifting has to be suited for holding that sentiment

my dad, @jfleck was a science journalist when i was growing up (he’s a professor now) and my mom’s a ceramicist

dad always described the difference between art and craft is that you can make as beautiful a sculptural artistic object as you want, but it has to carry the coffee to be a mug.

journalism, he says, has to carry the coffee. it can be beautiful, but the main thing it has to do is convey the news.

jewelry also has to carry the coffee, but the coffee is much more abstract: you have to make it a vessel for the milestone someone celebrated buying it for themselves, or their admiration or love for a giftee.

it also accumulates a patina of meaning as you own it and wear it for special occasions.

i put a lot of love and care into my work but all i am doing is making a container that people can put whatever feelings they want in.

it’s a pretty fucking good gig.

“Patina of meaning” is a pretty special turn of phrase. They’re a writer, too.

* Nora noted I should be sure to add a link to their shipping deadlines page because if you’re in Finland or something it might be too late to get your vessel to its destination in time.