Meanings
- uncountableThe state or quality of being an artisan.
He gave off an aura not of romance or woolly artisanality but rather of canny commercial nous.
2010, Matthew Fort, Eating Up Italy: Voyages on a Vespa, page 452 more examples
The spirit of artisanality is captured in the nineteenth-century “arts and crafts” movement, which “emphasized the human touch — the care, craftsmanship and attention to detail that go into a piece of furniture or a decorative object that is crafted by hand. The art of creating something, it was thought, should be a joyful, exhilarating experience, not just a way of earning money.”¹⁸
1995, Richard A. Posner, Overcoming Law, page 46The printed editions of Drebbel′s works thus allow us to trace circulation between a culture of artisanality sure enough of its own authority to stake claims to knowledge in print, and an academic culture appreciative enough of artisanality to support those claims through both erudition and elegance.
2011, Vera Keller, “How to Become a Seventeenth-Century Natural Philosopher: The Case of Cornelis Drebbel (1572-1633)”, in Sven Dupré, Christoph Lüthy, editors, Silent Messengers: The Circulation of Material Objects of Knowledge in the Early Modern Low Countries, page 125 - uncountableThe state or quality of being artisanal (made by artisans or involving the work of artisans, with comparatively little reliance on machinery).
The identity dovetails with images of environmental purity, artisanality, adaptability, competitiveness, creativity, and sophistication.
2008, Christina Stringer, Agri-Food Commodity Chains and Globalising Networks, page 1152 more examples
Aspects such as links to the territory, artisanality and the size and sustainability of producer organizations are evaluated, and if the product meets the necessary requirements, it is then ready to join the Ark of Taste[…].
2004, Anya Fernald, A World Of Presidia: Food, Culture & Community, page 13With early films, the viewer could not but be conscious of the artisanality of the work; with narrative film, as Belton (1985) and others have shown, the cinematic project was to disguise the artisanality of the work as much as possible so as to seduce the viewer′s complivity and engagement; further, the increasingly elaborate mechanism of studio production from 1930 onward meant that artisanality was also being hidden by—indeed, transformed into—the systematic mechanical operation of well-organized and interlocking parts.
2008, Murray Pomerance, The Horse Who Drank the Sky: Film Experience Beyond Narrative and Theory, page 29
Origin
From artisan + -ality or possibly artisanal + -ity.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Italian artigianalità, artigianato
- artigianalitàstate or quality of being an artisan
- artigianatostate or quality of being an artisan
- artigianalitàstate or quality of being made by an artisan or involving the work of artisans
- artigianatostate or quality of being made by an artisan or involving the work of artisans
Portuguese artesanalidade
- artesanalidadestate or quality of being made by an artisan or involving the work of artisans
Romanian artizanat, artizanat
- artizanatstate or quality of being an artisan
- artizanatstate or quality of being made by an artisan or involving the work of artisans
Cite this entry
artisanality. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/artisanality
“artisanality.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/artisanality. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “artisanality,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/artisanality.
Source: artisanality on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.