Maker Product Description, Perfect Flaws
Thank you for meeting me here! Last month, I was poking around the perfectly flawed process of a maker. I wondered, how can beautiful imperfections be illuminated? Could we embellish the grit and build more language around what doesn’t work? I promised to have a go at a product description. Here we are!
I created this description for our Boots Console Table. I aimed to spotlight the challenges in the process along the way (and probably overdid the puns). I started with the basics, turned to what didn’t work, then came back around to what worked. Whatever your writing style or whatever product you make, it’s worth playing with, “what didn’t work.” I’ll include a few simple prompts to help you at the end.
This Boots Console Table is quirky and certainly one-of-a-kind. Imagine it as a delightful visual surprise in your entryway or hallway. Even more, pair it with an incomparably lovely art piece hung above it, maybe something like this. We made this table here in Pennsylvania with reclaimed wood and metal.
The origin story begins with Marian (2024). Her sturdy feet became the inspiration for these boots. Once made, we knew they were a definite, “Yes!” but they weren’t enough to stand on (literally). It is pretty embarrassing to make a table that won’t stay upright on its own two feet, particularly when it objectively has two of them.
Reasoning stands even when your table won’t. Give it time. We leaned it aside, and puzzled it while it collected shop dust. After days (let’s be honest, weeks) pass and the only thing we could come up with is a bar across the legs, and that’s just “not it.” Just like the kids say. They act as our in-house consultants and remarked that the table is a little creepy.
There’s no backing down when you’ve laced up your boots. Time made it clear that stability was the problem, but it was also the solution. The obvious seemed to simply appear one day. We fastened steel plates beneath the feet to lower the center of gravity and slightly altered the angle of the legs. Now this table had some legs to stand on. Self-taught makers certainly have weak links, and engineering is definitely one of ours.
Consider the Boots Console Table for your artfully curated space. You can be sure it will bring smiles for many years to come.
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While this description is not revolutionary, it’s a start. Give it a try, play around with the perfect flaws in your own work. Here are some simple prompts, and a way to organize it.
- The basics. What is your item? What can I do with it?
- The making. Tell me how you made it, and with what.. What didn’t work? (didn’t work is of course, the theme here)
- The perfection. How did you make it work? What adjustments did you make? This is a hard one, I know. Let me know if you want any help with this. I’m here.
Let’s continue this adventure! Meet me back here next month for another round of “What I did wrong? ”Ha! I’m going to take this “perfectly flawed” campaign into the visual world. The challenge is to create graphics that “show”, not “tell”, the perfect flaws. If nothing else, perhaps I can be a reassurance that, however challenging your efforts may feel, they are absolutely humanly perfect.
You can read my ramblings on Substack too!
