Furrier the last of the Handmade craftsman’s.
Technology is evolving at a fast pace and everything is becoming automatic. We have self-driving cars, we use vending machines, instead of buying items directly from a shop, and we use self-checkout systems as an alternative to the traditional cashier-staffed checkout. All these changes have a major impact on the craftsman labor market, because people are being replaced by machines. Many occupations are disappearing and because of this, professions which require handcraft and expertise are becoming extinct. In the fabrication process of jewels, there are automatic tools that are substituting the jeweler’s work, but in furriers business this replacement isn’t possible, because a machine can’t execute the 100% handmade furrier’s craft.
For almost all furriers, their occupation is not only a thing that they do for a living, it is a craft that requires a lot of passion
The furrier’s skills are inherited, transmitted from generation to generation during a long time, and unfortunately, the amount of people willing to learn to work in this industry is decreasing, which ultimately means that one of the oldest professions in the world is slowly disappearing BUT NOT YET .
New technologies were developed in this field for cutting, stretching or drying the skins, but the tools are designed only to improve the productivity of the workers and are not meant to be a substitute of the furriers. Moreover, all the existing appliances have to be operated by an expert, because furriery is a profession that requires a high amount of knowledge, skill and a handicraft that can only be achieved by practicing the activity for a long time. It isn’t only an occupation, it is an art.
Two coats can be made by two furriers but will still look different, even if they’re made from the same kind of fur, and in the same model, as every furrier is like an artist who creates something unique, in their own way. Furriers possess (maybe without being aware of it) vast knowledge of geometry, learned by working in an empirical manner with the material. They usually come from families with traditions that have lasted for decades, or maybe for hundreds of years like our 3rd generation ,we strive to keep this business alive and make as many more customers happy as we can.Let’s embark together to one of the last 100% handcrafted arts of the world.