These are the Standards of Craftsmanship we follow.

We believe in and adhere to the highest standards of craftsmanship. 

...from Old House Chronicle Journal...

Although we value the quality of products that have the touch of the craftsman or woman, they can be hard to locate or seem too expensive for our budget. But the fact remains that we are drawn to the integrity of things made the good old-fashioned way.

That seems to be one of the prerequisites for being a craftsperson: a total involvement in the creative process. Steve Decatur, a contributor to the Old House Chronicle, remembers:  "Many years ago I worked around some of the finest craftsman in the area. These guys were joiners, pattern makers, and stairmakers. All of them were well-schooled in math and geometry (many of them self-taught). When they worked they sometimes seemed to move in slow motion and yet at the end of the day they had completed their work. They never talked very much except with their hands."

Another identifying factor of true artisans is their interest in the process of creating rather than in how much money they're making.  Another … is to look at their attitude about the environment. Craftspeople tend to reuse old materials rather than make their products totally from new and possibly environmentally questionable ones (e.g., repairing old windows and making them more energy-efficient rather than replacing them with new). They also are more concerned about the waste materials resulting from their craft-in part because they often are directly responsible for their overhead (unlike an assembly-line worker who may throw away a partially-ruined piece of, say, metal while thinking to himself, "Well, it's not my money down the tubes!"). Such integrity is essential to craftsmanship; the process demands it.

...go to the Old House Chronicle Journal for the complete text

... from the Manchester Guardian ...

The carpenter, lab technician, and conductor are all craftsmen because they are dedicated to good work for its own sake. Theirs is practical activity, but their labour is not simply a means to another end. The carpenter might sell more furniture if he worked faster; the technician might make do by passing the problem back to her boss; the visiting conductor might be more likely to be rehired if he watched the clock. It's certainly possible to get by in life without dedication, but the craftsman exemplifies the special human condition of being engaged.

Three abilities are the foundation of craftsmanship: to localise, to question and to open up. The first involves making a matter concrete; the second, reflecting on its qualities; the third, expanding its sense. The carpenter establishes the peculiar grain of a single piece of wood, looking for detail; turns the wood over and over, pondering how the pattern on the surface might reflect the structure hidden underneath; decides that the grain can be brought out if he or she uses a metal solvent rather than standard wood varnish. To deploy these capabilities the brain needs to process visual, aural, tactile and language-symbol information simultaneously.

The self-respect that people can earn by being good craftsmen does not come easily. To develop skill requires a good measure of experiment and questioning; mechanical practice seldom enables people to improve their skills. Too often we imagine good work itself as success built, economically and efficiently, upon success. Developing skill is more arduous and erratic than this.

Extracted from: The Guardian (Manchester Guardian, Great Britain), February 2, 2008 -

... and the etymology of "artisan" ...

Artisan: the words "art" and "artisanat" -“ which means small enterprise craftsmanship -“ have the same etymology.  Artisan: 1538, from It. artesano, from V.L. artitianus, from L. artitus, pp. of artire "to instruct in the arts," from ars (gen. artis) "art" (see art (n.)). c.1225, "skill as a result of learning or practice," from O.Fr. art, from L. artem, (nom. ars) "art, skill, craft," from PIE *ar-ti- (cf. Skt. rtih "manner, mode;" Gk. arti "just," artios "complete;" Armenian arnam "make," Ger. art "manner, mode"), from base *ar- "fit together, join" (see arm (1)). In M.E. usually with sense of "skill in scholarship and learning" (c.1305), especially in the seven sciences, or liberal arts (divided into the trivium -- grammar, logic, rhetoric -- and the quadrivium --arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy). This sense remains in Bachelor of Arts, etc. Meaning "human workmanship" (as opposed to nature) is from 1386. Sense of "cunning and trickery" first attested c.1600. Meaning "skill in creative arts" is first recorded 1620; esp. of painting, sculpture, etc., from 1668. Broader sense of the word remains in artless (1589). As an adj. meaning "produced with conscious artistry (as opposed to popular or folk) it is attested from 1890, possibly from infl. of Ger. kunstlied "art song" (cf. art film, 1960; art rock, c.1970). Fine arts, "those which appeal to the mind and the imagination" first recorded 1767. Art brut "art done by prisoners, lunatics, etc.," is 1955, from Fr., lit. "raw art." Artsy "pretentiously artistic" is from 1902. Expression art for art's sake (1836) translates Fr. l'art pour l'art. First record of art critic is from 1865. Arts and crafts "decorative design and handcraft" first attested in the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, founded in London, 1888. http://www.etymonline.com/