I agree with you about American craftsmanship. I am glad to see, though, that despite the range of electronic commercialism and Walmart pricing, there is a resurgent trend lead by young artisans to use their minds and hands to make beautiful things by hand. I first saw it start 5 years ago with bicycle frames, then leather, furniture and in the arts. Today the term luxury is undergoing a drastic redefining. What once was termed luxurious due to the exclusivity brought about by high prices which allowed only a privileged few that could mostly afford those objects more than they appreciated them, now luxury is something that is transformed, molded, fabricated, conceived, touched, forced, bent, welded, glued split, painted, filed, sanded, labored and loved by hands and hearts.

Today, commercialization and industrialization give products global access with channels of distribution and anything can be issued a high price and called luxury. But the real luxury is what global commercialization and industrialization have almost effectively replaced: the artisan.