I don’t know about you, but I am seeing a surge of what is now called artisan businesses. There is a surge of people in their late 20’s and 30’s taking a stab at what were at one time,  businesses found in every town.  Bakers, butchers, jewelers, carpenters, brewers, hands on business, literally “hands on.” The definition of an artisan is: a person or company that makes a high-quality or distinctive product in small quantities, usually by hand or using traditional methods: our favorite local food artisans. 3. pertaining to an artisan or the product of an artisan; artisanal: artisan beer.

With everything seeming to go digital, there is a resurgence of people wanting to put their hands to something other than a keyboard. They want to see the actual results of something that they made with their own two hands. It’s a sense of satisfaction that one gets from making something, be it an awesome wooden bowl or a perfectly pulled shot of espresso.  Spending time with others who also share these interests creates community and the ability to collaborate as well.

Many of the skilled trades are suffering from a lack of people entering them. With the baby boomers hitting retirement age, there just aren’t enough people entering the trades to replace them.  This will drive up prices for those that stay in their business, but it also opens up opportunities for the younger generation to enter the field and earn a very nice living.

I see this also affecting brick and mortar stores in the not too distant future. With many analysts predicting the death of the brick and mortar store, I see it as only temporary. When you purchase something online, it’s only for convenience. If you can’t find it locally and the buying decision is relatively easy, I can see people opting for an on-line purchase, but for other things like clothing, furniture, cars and local produce, why would you want to buy that on-line? I don’t know about you, but I want to feel the fabric, sit on the couch, test drive the car and see the produce that I am about to eat that evening. I also want the salesperson to tell me about what I am thinking about buying. Ideally, I want to form a relationship with that business owner so that when I need more clothing or food, I can talk to that person to help me in my buying decision. Sitting behind a computer can be very isolating and a chat box that pops up does not suffice as someone coming up to me in a store asking if they can truly help me. The difference I see in the brick and mortar store is a move away from the big corporate giants to more independent, local shops, where you know that your business is putting groceries on the table of someone that you have come to know; hence the relationship.

Many times, we get the feeling that a trend will continue and last forever, yet history shows us that there is a cycle to trends; they never last forever. I’m not saying that on-line purchasing and digital jobs will end. They are here to stay. I’m simply saying that people have experienced the isolation that these jobs can cause and desire meaningful relationships and seeing something at the end of the day that their own two hands made  for others. There is room for both. We need both.