24+ Pros and Cons of Handicraft (Explained)

Handicrafts is basically an umbrella term that includes many different works carried out to create decorative and unique objects, which can also be helpful.

The most distinctive feature of handicrafts is that all handicrafts are one hundred percent handmade.

The artisans who create these handicrafts make them using simple tools. It is a traditional and essential craft sector and requires great creativity and an incredible skill set.

This is why several handicrafts often find themselves integrated into educational systems, be it formally or informally.

🏺 Handicraft: Pros And Cons

Pros of Handicraft	Cons of Handicraft
1. Require relatively low capital investment	1. Handicrafts generally face a severe lack of funding
2. Raw Materials are quite easily available	2. The education level among the majority of artisans is quite low
3. Handicrafts help in reusing waste materials	3. Handicrafts Industries are privy to minimal information
4. Can help in improving a person’s skill set	4. Middlemen can exploit artisans
5. The products are unique and of high quality	5. The cost of handicrafts is generally relatively higher
6. Gives the option of being self-employed	6. Stops the migration of laborers from rural areas
2. The education level among the majority of artisans is relatively low	7. Process That Takes Time
8. The products are very eco-friendly	8. Small Scalability
9. Stops the migration of laborers from rural areas	9. Higher prices
10. Also beneficially affects the artisanal future generations	10. Little Market Coverage

✔️ Advantages Of Handicrafts

They exhibit aesthetic features and cultural heritage and are one of a kind. They give artists a platform to showcase their ingenuity and skill. Natural materials are frequently used in handicrafts, encouraging sustainability and eco-friendliness.

The items have a more rustic appeal due to using traditional methods and materials. Additionally, handicrafts assist local artisan groups and their way of life while preserving traditional skills and cultural traditions.

Additionally, handmade items have sentimental and historical value and are frequently prized as collectibles or heirlooms.

The overall shopping experience is improved by supporting fair trade practices and fostering a relationship with the artists and their stories by purchasing handicrafts.

Low Capital Investment

Handicrafts, owing to the fact that they are literally “products made by hand”, do not require any kind of heavy machinery, costly equipment, etc., for their manufacture.

A few ordinary and relatively readily available raw materials and individual skills are enough for the production of handicrafts, and this requires relatively lower capital investment(s).

👩🏻‍💼 Self Employment

Handicrafts can actually create job opportunities for skilled and talented people who are unemployed.

Learning the techniques required to create handicrafts and practicing those skills can allow a person to become quite good at the job and finally earn income by creating the handicrafts on their own and selling them.

Recycling Waste

Handicrafts put the materials, which are generally deemed to be waste and thrown away, to good use. Many of the raw materials used in handicrafts come from recycled waste.

A host of household waste items, like bottles, cardboard, plastic cups, buttons, cans, clothes, etc., can all be used for handicrafts.

Skill Improvement

The creation of handicrafts requires good knowledge coupled with a precise skill set. Quality is an essential requirement for handicrafts.

So to sell more products, the creator will be forced to put in more time and practice regularly, thus improving their knowledge and skill in creating the handicrafts.

Quality and Unicity

Owing to the market being flooded with readymade products, only unique handicrafts of really high quality can survive in the market.

They owe their unicity to the incredible creative skills of their creators. So whenever someone has bought handicrafts, the buyer can rest assured that the money they parted with was well spent on quality products.

Raw Materials

Handicrafts mostly use readily accessible raw materials like recycled waste products, etc. Thus, the cost of these raw materials is relatively cheap.

For example, a handicraft industry that is small in scale, producing furniture, clothes, embroidery, etc., can easily acquire cheap raw materials and use recycled products.

Economic Growth

High-quality handicrafts have a niche market, giving countries the option of selling unique handicraft items and increasing the country’s export rate, in turn boosting economic growth.

Apart from that, handicraft industries often grow up in low-income zones of a country and can help boost the region’s economy.

Environment Friendly

Almost everything is used to produce handicrafts, and the products themselves are entirely eco-friendly. Arguably all handicrafts are biodegradable.

Not only do they recycle waste materials, but are also free from chemicals and hazardous materials. Moreover, it eliminates the use of machinery, reducing energy consumption during production to almost zero.

Migration

Promoting handicrafts in rural areas can curb the migration of poor laborers from these areas to urban areas, giving them a stable income source along with the chance to acquire an incredible skill set.

With their wholly autonomous and short completion cycle, handicrafts can also be their secondary income.

Future

The artisans get to learn a unique skill set and see a good increase in their income. So they can also pass along their knowledge to future generations, allowing them to grow up with a good grasp of the skill set and provide them with better medical and educational options.

❌ Disadvantages Of Handicrafts

Their manufacture takes time, requiring complex hand labor, which might cause lengthier production delays than mass-produced goods.

Handicrafts’ limited scalability might make it challenging to keep up with demand or continuously provide the same degree of craftsmanship.

Additionally, because of the labor-intensive manufacturing process and the skill of the craftspeople, handicrafts are frequently more expensive, which makes them less accessible to some customers.

Low Productivity

This disadvantage is one of the significant reasons handicraft industries find it incredibly hard to compete with large-scale retail chains. They generally lack any kind of professional infrastructure.

They do not possess substantial storage spaces or any kind of packing and shipping facilities. This drastically limits the number of items that can be produced.

Middlemen

Middlemen can provide beneficial market linkages, but they often threaten the poorer population of handicrafts artisans.

They tend to exploit the artisans by only paying them a fraction of the wages they should receive for their work. The artisans lose out on their superior knowledge and bargaining powers.

Funding

Lack of proper funding has almost always plagued handicrafts. Even banks often refrain from giving handicraft industries loans, citing their low productivity, poor recovery rates, etc.

Investors are always looking for an easy and fast return on investment. That is something handicrafts cannot guarantee and thus is avoided by most investors.

📚 Low Education

Handicraft industries mainly grow up in rural areas. This means that a large part of the population dealing in handicrafts has undergone very little education, which limits their capabilities.

Even managing inventory correctly can become an issue. It also becomes more challenging for them to learn complicated handicraft skills.

Information Asymmetry

Owing to the vast difference between the funding, education of workers, and other factors of handicrafts and other more giant industries, handicrafts industries find it a huge challenge to identify potential markets.

It is also quite challenging for the handicraft industries to interact with these markets, severely hindering their growth.

💵 Cost

Handicrafts are often found to be more costly than the products produced by large-scale retail chains.

Owing to their magnanimous production numbers, they can easily afford to simply keep their prices lower than the handicrafts products and still make a profit. This means even lesser sales for handicrafts.

Handicrafts definitely have their own fair share of disadvantages, but they help bring employment opportunities to a large part of the population in different countries.

It also works in favor of women’s empowerment. So governments and welfare groups should try their best to help these handicrafts instead flourish than die out.