Artisans and the Infinite Game

The industrial age has focused on outputs, efficiency and margin. Localised ROI. Extract, process, consume. Recycling was a late and forced consideration, still done as afterthought in most businesses thinking processes.

Artisans have always thought differently, or maybe not even thought as much as unconsciously understood that everything has a lifecycle, and what happens at the end of that cycle has to respect its next beginning.

Part of an artisan's intelligence is her relationship with the raw material of her work. Where it comes from, how it got to her, what it feels like, what it wants to be. Its similar with the client - for her this is not a "product", it is a form of catalyst; something that will change the clients life for the better. It is part of her love for the client and what she makes for them.

She also thinks about what happens when everything is done, when the relationship is over, and how what she has created moves on. Not through industrial recycling processes, but som…