Bohus Knitting & Excellence

"One critic aptly reported that 'Emma Jacobsson's special mark is the finicky way she chooses colors. She is acutely sensitive to colors and this is what has given Bohus Stickning its special artistic value...
"Emma's attention to flawlessness was ingrained in her personality....
"Ultimately, it was Emma's unrelenting purusuit of quality that enabled Bohus Stickning to achieve the high praise it received. She demanded and expected an enormous amount of dedication from her workers, designers, and knitters. But in return, she gave them respect, empathy, and a sense of pride. Because Emma was highly respected, she was able to make suggestions and changes in the designers' patterns without alienating them. She stimulated their creativty and encouraged them to experiment with colors, yarns, and patterns. Above all, Emma was an inspiration and friend to her colleagues." (from Poems of Color p. 26)

It is challenging to read of a personality which was strong enough to stand against mediocrity and compromise no matter what the cost may have been to her personally. She could not give in to mediocrity. She could not. She would not! In the process, even though she may have been difficult to work with at times, in her inate fairness, she also impelled those who worked with her to higher levels of excellence.

As I posted some days ago, I have been pursuing the concept of "excellence" and "quality" for some time. What are its hallmarks? What are its earmarks? How is it that we can separate out from the crowd those things which are excellent and of great quality?

I remember watching a T.V. show many years ago now. I did not know anything about ballet and this PBS special was about some ballet thing. I sat down to catch a few minutes of it and I saw a group of dancers come out onto the stage and begin to twirl and pirouette in the beauty of the dance. Suddenly, a dancer exploded out of the group and began to leap with such power that I was drawn in to his persona immediately. I felt goosebumps rise on my arms and I whispered to myself, "Just WHO is that man?!" It turned out that "that man" was Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Even though there are other great YouTubes of Baryshnikov dancing, I selected this one because I liked the contrast between him and Gregory Hines (who is also a very good dancer). Yet, even though Hines is very good, I love the restraint and control that is apparent with Baryshnikov. There is a tightness, an intensity, an almost imprisoned sense of power that is only released in momentary couplets which add to the movement's enormity and which entraps the viewer and draws him into a unity with Baryshnikov as he dances. Even though I am not dancing when I see Baryshnikov dance. I am dancing when I watch Baryshnikov dance, for he pulls me into himself and I no longer an impartial viewer; I am dancing with Baryshnikov.

While looking at Mikhail Baryshnikov YouTube clips, I found this one with Alice Waters. The things which she said encapsulated the concepts that I so appreciate and long to do: to impel others to excellence and quality in their own way.

So, just what is it which is the hallmark of "excellence"; the earmark of "quality"? The word "excellence" contains within it a timbre unlike any quality that surrounds it. Perhaps, ipso facto, it is the bearing which comes from the commitment to the process itself. If the process is seen as a job, it loses an aspect of its life. If it loses its life, it loses its excellence.