Your fair warning: I’ve got my shovel out and my astronaut suit on. I’m exploring the depths and limits of handmade and terroir. I will be writing a series of posts on knowing where something came from, and it’s story. This one is a little more oriented to my “maker” friends out there.
Welcome to Storyland! Keep your superhero costume in the drawer- it’s not what you’re thinking.
Storyland is what I’m calling our current condition- the potent need for a story, yours-mine-hers. We are swarmed by personal details and in the same moment we crave them. Who are you? Where did you grow up? What do you do for fun? What makes you crazy? What makes you cry? I’m guessing you get the idea. Our glowing screens are buzzing with stories- your neighbors, the high school “friend” you once said “hi” to, the serial online participant. Some of us react to all this saying, “Whoa Nelly, turn that thing off- it’s insanity!”
Here’s what my optimistic self says, “Storyland is a magnificent opportunity.” It’s a glorious chance for makers of handmade goodness and farmers producing organic and natural foods to surge forward.
By offering someone an ounce of your inspirations, your history, your management or creative process- you are opening up big fat wallets [teeney weeney exaggeration]. Persistent story-telling does work; the catch is that it’s slow.
It’s slow because its not always obvious to the consumer. Let’s face it, everything made on earth [even by robots] has a story. Someone somewhere imagined it, managed it or simply pressed a button. Some people have a lot more money to tell their story- contrived or not.
Thankfully, in our present day state of Storyland- Tina [wife, mom, CEO] is making decisions not just on ads but on the story she read in the paper about the local farmer, the hundreds of tweets she received from me, the news you shared with her because she’s your “facebook friend.”
I say, “this is our chance, let’s grab it.” Tell the story about how you tear down fences and rebuild them every night to move your cows to new pastures or how your dad gave you a welder for your birthday when you were 14.
I’m looking forward to the evolution of Storyland. We’re going to tell our story and tell it again and again and again. In the same respect, I think we’re going to be asking alot more questions of what we’re buying. What do you think?
Photograph by cauchisavona.
Also, I need to thank Tara Gentile who is constantly inspiring me – she is wonderful at reminding us to tell “our story.”
