'Human Made' - The New Luxury or just Human Nature?

As AI technologies become more commonplace in our everyday lives, are we finding ourselves craving more human connection? And should this come at a premium?

You may have seen the phrase 'human made' popping up recently - I know I have, and every time I read those words I can't help but feel a little unsettled. Something about the phrase just feels uncomfortable, dystopian even. Why is handmade no longer enough, why do we feel the need to specify that a product was made by a human?

Like it or not, AI is everywhere. Sometimes it feels like Generative AI has taken over social media and advertising, flooding our feeds with images that always feel just a little bit uncanny and text that all reads the same. Ironically, when I sat down to write this blog the first thing my website platform suggested was to use their AI tools to write it for me. No thank you.

When a brand chooses to create content or products using AI, they're choosing efficiency. A quick, easy way to fill the space - one that often comes at little cost compared to the human alternative. By opting to use a human to create that same content, write the article, design the product, whatever it may be, the brand is placing value on that person's knowledge and expertise. A relationship of trust is built, which is then passed on to the consumer.

As a small business owner myself, of course I can respect that time is often a limited resource, yet despite this I have not succumbed to the use of generative AI. Hex & Henbane as a brand is an extension of myself - a way for me to share my creativity and values. As William Morris once said, 'Nothing should be made by man's hands which is not worth making, or which must be made by labour degrading to the makers.' To me, each element of my business is valuable; every product and design, every photograph, every social media post. To relegate any one of these to AI in my eyes would be doing a disservice - yes it may save time and cut cost, but it would also dilute the brand's authenticity and my own voice. Hex & Henbane has always valued human creativity and craftmanship, and always will do, but why should this be a trend and not the norm?

Each of our patterns begin as a series of hand-illustrations before being digitally printed locally onto wallpapers and textiles.

It seems that I'm not the only business owner that feels this way. More and more, products are being described as 'Human Made', 'Proudly Human' and 'AI-Free' with businesses pushing for a universally recognised logo to mark products as such - think along the lines of Fairtrade or Organic. Marking products as such highlights the value placed on the individual skills, knowledge and expertise of the person behind it and could be used as a mark of quality - but should such a mark automatically inflate the price of a product?

In short, no. A mark or logo alone should not dictate a products price point. However, when you are paying for a product designed and made by a human, you're not just simply paying for the product itself. You're paying for not only the time spent by the person creating the product, but the time they have sunk into learning the skills and expertise required to do so. So although human-made doesn't automatically equate to luxury, what it does equate to is valuable labour, and this of course comes at a price.

A 2020 market research report by the Crafts Council shows that the market for handmade goods is growing. More and more people are turning away from mass produced products and are willing to spend more on handmade alternatives, but why is this? As technology becomes a bigger part of our every day lives, are people yearning for more authenntic human experiences, and could this be filtering down into their shopping habits? We live in an age where there seems to be a new trend every week, where every other social media post is trying to sell you the next viral product - quite frankly it's tiring. The toxicity of this pressure to constantly buy more, post more and keep up with the latest trend is becoming more and more apparent, not only the affect it has on our mental health but on the health of the planet too. Mass produced items are becoming more often than not, destined for landfill. In response to this, some are choosing to buy less, but buy well; spending more on high quality, handmade items to treasure for years to come.

As we continue to navigate this technological revolution, it's worth remembering this: humans were made to create, but AI can merely imitate. It's perhaps no surprise that we're leaning more towards handmade products, looking for that certain kind of honesty that comes with something made by human hands. After all, it's only natural.