The Nature and Art of Workmanship

Pye focuses specifically on artifacts of wood and metal as examples, but I have found this book incredibly useful to canonize and quantify the ideas of workmanship in multiple disciplines.I teach sewing classes in Chicago (among other things) and use The Nature and Art of Workmanship as a way to help people start to think more about the work they are doing as they construct garments. I've found it useful for beginning sewists and designers who are hampered and harried by ideas of perfection and I've found it useful for advanced sewists who want to start thinking about techniques and theories to analyze their own work. Personally, these ideas are always in the back of my own mind as a creator and designer whether I am reinterpreting Art Deco murals, designing interior spaces, or sewing shirts and dresses.I've found even the most basic ideas in the book - discerning between the workmanship of risk versus the workmanship of certainty - highly useful when talking about craft and creation with beginners especially. It is no good to begin a skill with the idea that you want a mechanical result exclusively.It can be heavy and a bit dry in tone if you are looking for light reading, but if you are a creator and your thinking is cloudy-to-nonexistent around workmanship, this is the ticket. Pye takes us through his thinking in defining good versus bad workmanship, then explains and defines not *what* to think about it, but rather *how* to think about it.For any creative person, this helps establish boundaries so that you understand your own process and don't get mired in useless criticism that comes from the broader culture or detrimental criticism that comes from within. Creation through workmanship is a journey and Pye will help you refine and define that journey.Think of it this way: If you are told that you *have* to cross the ocean, and you *have* to build your own boat to do it, this book will help you build something much more seaworthy than you would otherwise have and help you refine your needs for the trip. It doesn't tell you how to build the boat and doesn't ensure that you will make the journey at all, but it is a tool that helps.If you are a creative person of any stripe, and if you feel hampered by internal or external criticism about what "perfect workmanship" is and is not, then this may help you sift and sort those critical demons. It can free you by giving you a system to use to evaluate and execute your work.As just a side note, with what Pye talks about here, it is too bad he hasn't been around to comment on what technology has brought us over the past 20 years with regards to artifacts and workmanship. It would be really interesting to read commentary as things relate to 3D printing, AI, &c.

Pye is/was a woodcarver, and his book is an extension of his thinking and reading as part of his art work. He is not a professional crafts critic in the Glenn Adamson mold. As a consequence he speaks to the maker not the collector, historian or theorist, although every maker is all of those things too. I think Pye has a good deal to say and a perspective that is useful.

Deserves its status as a cult classic. I have used the book to teach photography; I believe David Pye's principles and ideas can be transported to other crafts with relative ease. It's a short, slender book, easy to read, but there's a lot of original thinking and many useful ideas in this book. I bought this reprint for a friend, and it's the fourth time I've bought the book over the years. Highly recommended for anyone interested in craft of any kind.

I've found the ideas in this book to be enlightening and much needed (5 stars). However, Its very ironic that a book with this title and with such insight into workmanship would have the following error in the actual printing of the book - - The margin on the left pages, from the left - conversely also of the right pages, from the right, is half the page. Such a wide margin runs the ending of each line on the left page right up to the binding and again conversely begins each line on the right page at the binding. A minor annoyance, still readable, nevertheless this is the reason why I take away 2 stars. Great read otherwise.

David Pye was not only a designer and craftsman, he was an eloquent wordsmith. This book is a must read for any craftsman, artist, designer, engineer, architect or person interested in how we view the designed and fabricated world around us and why we fabricate things in the ways that we do. I first read this book in 1977 and I'm glad to see that it is back in print. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

This book is a deep dive into the philosophy of craftmanship, and is an excellent read for anyone in any field who takes pride in their work. It is ironically one of the worst printed books I have ever read, extremely wide margins push the text into the binding and the print quality of the photos leaves a lot to be desired. It overall looks like a bad photocopy of a great book

Fabulous read. Pye’s exploration of workmanship of risk versus workmanship of certainty has applications in almost every aspect of daily living.

I originally purchased this book after hearing an experienced woodworker refer to the author's concepts as they applied to working with wood. I was not disappointed as the author takes the reader through a well thought out and cogent presentation. Definitely worth the read if you are a craftsman, educator or supervisor of craftsmen and want to articulate concepts of workmanship as pride, professionalism and artistic expression.

An excellent examination of the nature & relationship between design and workmanship for the craftsmen. I first read this book in the 80's. I still reread it periodically. Highly recommended.

This book was first published in 1968 and I must have read it at that time, but never owned a copy. Reading it again now, confirms that this is a seminal book on the subject, written in a straightforward, engaging and unpretentious style. David Pye was an architect, designer and Professor of Furniture Design at the Royal College of Art, but above all a craftsman. He knew what he was talking about, both from critical observation and from practical experience.This is not a long book, but it analyses design and craftsmanship with an admirable clarity and introduces ideas which have stayed with me since my first reading of the book. For example the simple but intriguing division of making techniques into "the workmanship of certainty" and "the workmanship of risk." This book is essential reading for every designer, craftsperson, critic and commentator with an interest in the crafts.

Like all high quality craftsmanship this excellent work stands the test of time (originally published in 1968). I'm not a craftsman but wanted to understand craftsmanship in relation to Aristotle's ideas about 'techne'. Pye's thinking is wonderfully clear and insightful and is full of the kind of fine detail that looks good from a distance and even better when given close attention - just like the fine quality craftsmanship he describes.

Should be required reading for all design undergrads. Pye presents a well crafted argument for the continuation and importance of traditional workmanship. His arguments still have great relevance in the modern world of 3D printing, laser cutting and other digital fabrication methods and have aged well sounding contemporary and sharp.

brilliant book so pleased with how it assisted in my dissertation...really defined the difference between Art and Craft in a simplistic way. David Pye must have been a great teacher..thank goodness he wrote this book and submitted his philosophy to paper to continue helping students.