Artisan

Featured Article — 18-2026

Each item is a piece of art. In each little seam or scuff is the touch of the artisan, the material legacy of how the item came to be.

Artisans are the talented craftspeople behind much of the beauty of the world. Their hard work is felt and recognized in all corners of life. Almost every new item a person in the sol system brings home is commissioned from an artisan and made to order. Even when an item is purchased secondhand, they are sent to an artisan for repairs and renovations. Prized goods are passed down through generations, and furniture with a long history is as prized as those with the finest craftsmanship.
Most artisans are highly specialized and have indepth knowledge of their fields. Some can be considered hyper-specialized and produce very specific things, like a symbioteer that only grows power armour, or a lapidarist who exclusively cuts lattices in aurorite for data storage.

An Artisan Economy

Each household works with a network of artisans. The craftspeople they meet more frequently, like their tailor, are like extensions of the family. Likewise, the inventory of their homes becomes a rolodex of the family contacts. Some households prefer to stick to familiar artisans for their goods, while others are eclectic assemblages from dozens or even hundreds of artisans.
Many people work as artisans, either as their primary or secondary occupation. Some artisans are suppliers for others, whether they grow their own aurorite from scratch, or take a product like metal wire and braid it into lace for machinery.

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Materials and Manufacturing

Some clients prefer to buy their own materials, consulting with their preferred suppliers and inspecting their quality before bringing them to the workshop. This can sometimes be a cost saving measure, but it is also often an opportunity to take advantage of the expertise of a supplier, especially with rare or particular materials. It also makes it possible to take the materials to a different craftsperson.
Only large companies, industries, and militaries contract manufacturing of items at scale. These gargantuan orders sustain an entirely separate industry of their own, farmed out to workshops which produce items en masse and to specifications. Even there, there is a preference for artisinal labour whenever possible.

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Materials used by Artisans

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Artisans are largely freelancers. Some artisans create collectives and cooperatives to support eachother and share the cost of their workspace. Most artisans are organized in a guild or labour union, which protect them from exploitation by larger companies and clients.
The less the public knows or interacts with a profession, the worse they are treated. The mining industry is infamous for exploitative contracts, and has only gotten worse in the Asteroid Belt and out in the distant Kuiper Belt.

Products

Clothing

The majority of artisans work in the production or processing of textiles. From the production of fibers and filament, to refining it into thread, weaving it into fabric, and creating clothing from the fabric, it is a labour intensive process. A persons collection of clothing is often their most valuable and their most personal collection of items.
Most clothing is made by commission, designed by the wearer and adapted for their body. Inherited clothing is also taken to a tailor or seamstress to be altered and fitted.

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Technology

Technology is somewhat of an outlier when it comes to artisan goods. Personal items like computers and power armour are made by artisans, but large scale items are not.
Spacecraft are largely not custom, but models built to very specific specifications. The certification process that ensures that the craft is safe in space is prohibitively expensive, and most companies have to produce enough of a given model to spread out the cost. A rare few airdocks build custom craft at extorbiant prices, creating a luxury market.

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Relics

The finest works ever produced, made by master artisans from spectacular materials. The most powerful of these relics defy the laws of nature.

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See Also

Crystal Technology
Spacecraft Kallisti Aerospace ( Sunderer SF-1 · Sunbreaker SF-2 ) · Jupiter Stella ( Aerie O-1 · Cyklopes SSF-9 ) · Heretic GA-7 · Dragonfly Carrier · Airdocks Telepresence Interlace ( Super Wide Access Network ) · Remote Personality Cache/Display Other Power Armour · Bosonic Clock · Gravity Plates · Gateway Portals · Personal Computer Materials Astrallite · Aurorite · Oortite

Related Traditions

Salvage

Other Associated professions

• Lapidarist