PAKIS AND CIE

 Between a Pakistani harp and a harp made by a European or American luthier, there is, I think, the same difference that highlights the english potter Bernard Leach when he compares pottery of ancient Greece and Rome to that of Japan.

  In Greece and Rome, this work was done mechanically, chain-work and slaves: a tedious job, repetitive, unimaginative, to satisfy “nouveau riche” customers.

 In Japan, the potters enjoyed a fairly high status and were considered artists or craftsmen: that changes everything! As the Japanese pottery does show great creativity, constant research in material, color, different shaping and baking processes.

 Companies that relocate their manufacturing in Asia are the new slave traders.

 They are no more going to get the "ebony wood " in Africa by boat, this system had many disadvantages, now they make people work at home, with the complicity of interested small local mafia leaders, under conditions more than precarious, and wages for survival.

 Globalization, more or less unfair trade, it still sounds better than slavery, right?

 But the result is the same: a standardized manufacturing, according to "specifications" often minimalist, with the famous "quality control" and their controllers ... very sad objects, from all points of view.

 An artist or a craftsman is unable to avoid getting fond of what he produces, evolving, improving , embellishing ! Passion for a better work catches him!

 I myself experienced this approach: not in the harps, but in another area. I build optical systems for twenty years.

 Since the very first prototypes, I never stopped thinking, trying all sorts of modifications and improvements, sometimes with success. My current production bears little resemblance to the beginning's, and better so!

 What could I do with guard dogs, “specifications” and controllers on the back?

 To create something new, one need complete freedom of mind, a little free time, a little money, and a minimum of social recognition.

 What I mean is that the artist and the craftsman give a soul to what they create.

 In contrast, the work of the slave can only express the sadness and misery of his condition ...