Manifesto

As the manufacturing world became more mechanized there was tendency to standardize the user interface.  The result can be orderly rows of identical buttons and confused people with 50 page manuals that can’t figure out how to set a clock.  I understand that as items become more complex they can in turn become more complicated to use however it seems that mass production often leads to dulled down design without much attention being paid to form, function and fit.

I’ve always been amazed by things that seem to work well.  Things that were made and in some cases still are being made that exhibit all the traits of QualityMade objects.  You can tell when you use them that the people who made them cared about what they were doing and that they designed them to be efficient, useful and carry out a specific task.

Even electronics is this way, back before trends and popularity ruled design. Back when a device stood on its own before all and didn’t lean on the past or mass market appeal.  If you look here you’ll find something unique always and these unique aspects of the design are often still fresh today.

Its amazing to see how the designs vary and attempt to convey function to the user through the form.  Everything from the HUGE black knob on the right that begs to be adjusted to the frilly red scrolls of the paint job are speaking to the user.  The devices seem to engage the world in a way that modern things don’t, possibly its because there old and out of time, but still something about them gives confidence, they say “I can do something interesting here, Pay Attention!!!”

It was repairing one of these early electronics devices a piece of  test equipment from the early 60s that gave me the idea for this website.  This device wasn’t Made in the USA, grin, Puerto Rico, but after I opened it up and blew out all the lady bugs the first thing I noticed were the capacitors.  Made in the USA, wow, now here was an imported product with exported electronics, what a twist.  I have taken apart a lot of things, piles and piles really, but never had I seen capacitors made in the USA.

So, I know its hard to really say that a capacitor can be QualityMade, and even so it was probably the dead caps that were causing me to tear into the thing in the first place but still…  It hearkens back to a time when we used to be makers in this country and when Made in the USA meant more then the item was just produced in America.  It was more like a symbol of quality, it meant “We made that, and therefor you know its good, we’ll stand behind it, and you can trust that it will do for you what you expect, and if it doesn’t we’ll make it right! So There!”  Hows that for branding, the tiny little letters USA used to mean that, and for some companies they still do.

I hope this site can highlight some of those things that have that special QualityMade standard, and I hope that its not just about the past.  I know that commitment to quality is still important for some products being produced today.  I want to find those things, those things that are QualityMade and let this site be a showcase for them.  Its a joy to discover and use a QualityMade item and I hope that everyone gets to experience for themselves.

To all those building and using QualityMade items,
I tip my glass to you,
ED