Abstract
This work is focused on craftsmanship performed by individual craftsmen or by small companies. The author is a leatherworker by his profession and therefore he is an insider in this field.
The paper is considering relationships between manufacturers of craft goods and consumers of these goods. These relationships are not just determined by price and utility value of products, but also by symbolic value of these artefacts in the first place.
Relationships between manufacturers and consumers include a lot of rituals. Artifacts are usually deemed "traditional" by manufactures and by consumers.
The concept of tradition is commodified and used as a marketing tool in order to increase profit. There is a lot of clichés in the studied field, such as the national myth of "golden Czech hands" or about mythical person of Tomáš Baťa.
Important principle how to establish relationships between manufactures and consumers is geographical distance. Manufactures set boundaries between each other and if there is someone who is not holding line of traditional craftsman procedure firmly, this wrongdoer can became ritually unclean.
Another important principle crucial to set up good relationships between consumers and manufacturers is sustainable development principle. There is a lot of cooperation between different manufacturers.
Cooperation is perceived as better strategy than aggression and this is something that raises the interest of consumers. Technological innovations create tension between manufacturers and consumers, which are related to traditionality of artifact as a thing, which is supposed to be made in a traditional way, which is preferred by some of the consumers.
Artifacts made by craftsmen are perceived by some clients as a luxury goods in some circumstances.