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As Shield grows, evidence supporting the importance of quality keeps rolling in. We all appreciate fine craftsmanship, products made with standards that focus on high quality and attention to detail. And they evoke our emotions: we talk about handmade items with a depth of feeling that mass-produced items can’t match. True quality is timeless. The chasm between inexpensive, mass-produced products and crafted, quality-driven ones is vast — and vastly important. Here’s why quality should define everything you do. 

The importance of quality at Shield

Wood Products Magazine, which focuses on the wood manufacturing market’s news, trends and production techniques, recognized Shield last week in a profile of our company and work. Confirming Shield’s role as source of quality and new ideas in the healthcare industry, the article details the differences Shield’s craftsmanship grants our product and process. 

The interview placed Shield’s commitment to building elegant, smart products from solid surface in the spotlight. Three years ago, we took this underused, pigeon-holed material and turned it into an forward-thinking solution for healthcare environments.

Like other companies recognized for their innovation and craftsmanship, from Apple to Dyson to American Giant, Shield strives to balance the unbridled creativity of innovation with the grounding purpose of quality.

Why quality should define everything you do

Apple’s Jony Ives was recently interviewed by Time Magazine on his views as a designer at a company lauded for its originality and the craftsmanship that typifies his work.

“We’re surrounded by anonymous, poorly made objects. It’s tempting to think it’s because the people who use them don’t care–just like the people who make them. But what we’ve shown is that people do care,” Ive says. 

“It’s not just about aesthetics. They care about things that are thoughtfully conceived and well-made. We make and sell a very, very large number of (hopefully) beautiful, well-made things. Our success is a victory for purity, integrity–for giving a damn.”

“What people are responding to is much bigger than the object. They are responding to something rare — a group of people who do more than simply make something work, they make the very best products they possibly can. It’s a demonstration against thoughtlessness and carelessness,” he says.

These interviews demonstrate that we are, as Fast Company puts it, living in an age of craft. People today care about how things work and how they function, and they value that story more than they value a low price or a list of features.