Why handmade objects often make better gifts

Making

A handmade gift does not have to be grand. Often its strength is quieter than that: someone made decisions over it, and you can tell.

This is about why that matters in a present, how to tell when it is true, and which of the things in this shop are genuinely made by hand. Not all of them are, and I would rather say so.

They feel less anonymous

Many gifts feel as though they could have come from anywhere. A handmade object is different because someone has made decisions over it: the tension of a stitch, the placement of a leaf, the pressure of a press, the line of a brush. You can usually sense when an object has passed through a pair of hands, and so can the person you give it to.

Small differences make them personal

Thread sits a little differently on each copy of a hand-bound notebook. No two pressed ginkgo leaves dry to quite the same gold. Hand-painted colour lands a fraction to one side. Two pieces from the same studio will be close, never identical, and that is a quiet advantage in a gift: this particular piece is this particular piece.

They are easier to keep

The best gifts do not need a special shelf or a long explanation. They go into a coat pocket, onto a desk or up on a wall, and start to belong. A gift that is used is far less likely to become clutter, and handmade things tend to be made for use rather than for display.

Which of the things here are made by hand

Bound by hand. The Black Cypress notebook from 23janvier in south-west France is bound by hand with exposed Japanese stitching.

Pressed and mounted by hand. The pressed leaves and flowers, also from 23janvier, are gathered, pressed for three to five weeks and mounted by hand.

Printed and finished by hand. Le Typographe's letterpress cards go through presses in Brussels one colour at a time and are finished by hand; the birthday card's envelope is cut on a press and glued by hand.

Painted by hand. Asakusa Bunko's Yuzen key clips are stencil-dyed, then painted over by hand by a yuzen painter in Tokyo. The frames are cast separately.

Finished by hand. The oil-shrink leather of the Zucchero wallet is finished by hand, which is why every one carries its own small marks.

Not described as handmade. Kanmi's clasp purses are made in Japan at a workshop that builds nothing but clasp purses; the RO-BIKI notebooks come from Yamamoto Paper in Osaka; RYU-RYU print Yoko Fujiki's embroidery on to paper in Japan. They are here for their leather, their paper and their design, and I describe them exactly as that.

How to tell for yourself

Look for a named maker, a named town and a stated method. Look for small differences between photographs of the same piece. And be wary of handmade used as an adjective with nothing behind it. There is no specific legal definition of the word in British retail, so the detail around it is what tells you whether it has been earned. The guide to handmade, hand-finished and small batch goes into the difference.

Questions

Are handmade gifts better?

Often, not always. A handmade object carries decisions and small differences that make it feel chosen. But a badly made handmade thing is still badly made, so the object has to be good first.

How can I tell if something is really handmade?

A shop should be able to name the maker, the town and the method. If it can only offer the word, treat the word as decoration.

Is the Kanmi purse handmade?

I describe it as made in Japan, at a workshop that builds nothing but clasp purses, because that is what I can verify. The leather is oil-finished cowhide, and it softens and darkens with use.

Written by Mohssen, who chooses, photographs and packs everything at Ourooh in Edinburgh.

Ourooh is an Edinburgh shop for things from independent makers and small studios, mostly in Japan and Europe, for giving and keeping.