Aren’t machines much more accurate in making these items?
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Humans are better at noticing general defects and correcting them. A machine only checks for the defects it’s programed to detect so could miss something really dumb because no one thought to put a sensor to check for it.
An example: A handmade dresser is more likely to be made from solid wood, and built by a detail oriented craftsman, they’re built to last a lifetime. A machine built mass produced dresser is more likely to be made of particle board, with cardboard bottoms. They’re made cheap, and they’re made to be disposable. First time you spill a soda on it, it’s gonna come apart.
From an economic perspective, a lot of it has to do with the uniqueness of an item. Things are more “valuable” the less of them there are. Since people aren’t machines, every handmade item is technically unique, thus increasing its value compared to something that is mass-produced by machine which there are then usually hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of that same thing.
People value uniqueness and people also value a human touch. If you want to get into it on a more… I dunno, “spiritual” level (for lack of a better word) something made by a human being has a different energy or feeling to it than something machine made. I don’t know how to qualify that in scientific terms, but it’s something that most people just *feel* to be true. The fact that someone spent time and energy making something makes it feel more special, and thus more valuable. It’s the “blood, sweat, and tears” effect—something that cost someone their blood, sweat, and tears to produce has more “energetic” or spiritual value than something a machine spit out without any emotional cost.
Sorry if that last part is a bit woo-woo, haha it’s not very scientific, but I do believe it’s a big part of why people value handmade items, whether they are consciously aware of it or not.
Machines are expensive. Mass production usually means a lot of choices are made for the sake of cutting costs at the expense of quality.
In the past, handmade goods were made to last. Because nobody has the time or money to keep making the same stuff over and over.
In general machines are able to make things much more consistent then when humans make it by hand. However even machines do make small mistakes here and there. Tools gets worn down, things shift out of alignment, vibrations and temperature changes cause variations, etc. So when machines makes two parts they never fit perfectly as both parts are slightly different from the drawing. You see this in new things as there is usually gaps of various thickness between defferent parts and things do not perfectly line up. You do often see clever designs that tries to hide the fact that things does not line up but you can still see it.
However when things are hand made there are people stopping the manufacturing process to measure each part and either correct it or compensates on the other part. They do often use the same tools and machines as the machine made parts but they are constantly correcting the errors that is being made. This means that parts fits together much better giving you better quality. On the other hand no two parts are the same which can reduce the quality.
That being said not all hand made items are of higher quality then machine made items. And machine can also measure the parts that are made and correct for any errors. So you can not automatically assume that hand made is better then machine made. But high tier items are usually man made as it would be too expensive to have machines make it to the same level of fit. That being said machine made items can usually be repaired much cheaper because spare parts will actually fit without having to be hand fitted. You also have issues with symmetry in hand made items.
Machines are more consistent, but something made by a machine is likely mass produced, which means that certain design choices will be biased towards cost of manufacture over being a better product. Calling something hand crafted usually implies it was done so by a master artisan, so a hand crafted good is usually made to be the best it can, without concern for expense.
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