Wizarding Professions

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 108602

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "manawydan" <manawydan at n...> wrote:
>  Steve wrote:
> >Another good example, Fred and George's Joke shop; l... Some guy 
> will sit on an assembly line all day long enchanting trick wands, 
> another guy will form the wands from sticks of wood, etc... etc.... 
> In another department, a whole crew of people will make trick 
> sweets.


> Ffred:
>
> An interesting thought, and one where there's very little canon, is
> whether production in the WW is based on factories or on workshops.
> All the businesses we see in the books appear to be small ones - we 
> don't hear the factory hooter going at Ollivander's and hundreds of 
> wandmakers streaming out to the pub at lunchtime, for example!

Asian_lovr2:

My use of the term 'factory' might have been a bit of generalization,
but I still stand by the concept. Can you really see one wizard in one
shop meticulously handcrafting the dozens and dozens of Dung Bomb the
kids buy every chance they get? These are comsumable joke items, they
run them off by the hundreds.

Wands are a different story, they truly are meticulously handcrafted
by one man in one shop. Wands are made by a craftsman with deep
knowledge, highly specialized talent, artistic skill, and years of
experience. Plus a wand is not a consumable item. When a wizard buys
his first wand he does so with the intent of using it for the rest of
his life. Admitly, life may have other ideas, but that's the initial
intent.

Note, that F.Delacour's wand is probably custom made since she
supplied the core for it. Even so, I suspect there is a large
craftsman's shop like Ollivander's in Western Europe, as well as,
Gregorovitch in Eastern Europe.

Point: just because some things are made in a somewhat factory-like
setting doesn't mean everything is.


> Ffred continues:
>
> The only _possible_ exception are the broomstick makers, where 
> there's a slight implication that one or two manufacturers dominate 
> the market for "quality" broomsticks. That's not to say of course
> that there aren't dozens of "village broommakers" turning out the 
> kind of slow steady ones that are great for getting Mrs Witch to the
> farmers' market to do her shopping, or for the kids to learn on, but
> wouldn't get you anywhere against a Nimbus or a Firebolt.
> 

Asian_lovr2:

The purchase of brooms is sufficient for four major broom companies to
exist;  Cleansweep (1926), Comet (1929), Nimbus(1967), &
Firebolt(199x?). Just as in real life, I doubt that a small village
broom maker can compete with large broom companies. You can have a car
handcrafted today, and many people do, but for two or three times the
money as a production car. There may be a few obscure handcrafted
broom makers out there, but they are certainly out of the reach of the
average broom rider.

>Ffred continues:
>
> So maybe, rather than having a factory attached, Gred and Forge 
> would have a network of small suppliers up and down the country, 
> each of whom had a good line in producing whatever was wanted.

Asian_lovr2:

Whether distributed across the country or in one building, the main
point is that it's hundreds of available jobs.

Keep in mind, not only do Fred and George need a crew of people for
each of the many diverse aspects of their business, but many secondary
businesses are needed to support them; cloth for invisible hats,
chemicals and materials for fireworks, ingredients for trick sweets,
wood for fake wands, material for the objects the wands turn into,
accounting, distribution, warehousing, transportation, store fixtures,
office supplies, owls for mail order, owlries and food for those owls,
etc.... 

My main point is that you have to look beyond the surface of
individual shops and look at all the businesses and workers it takes
to keep those shops up and running; butchers, bakers, candlestick
makers, enchanters, charmers, speller, managers, and magical craftsmen
of all sorts.

> Ffred concludes:
> 
> I do wonder what happened to Gambol and Japes, though. Can Diagon
> Alley _really_ support two joke shops?
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Ffred

Asian_lovr2:

Actually, there are three joke shopes, Wizard Wheezes, Gambol & Japes,
and Zonkos. All making mostly consumable items. I suspect Zonkos is
the biggest and therefore an international company. There is probably
a Zonko's shop in Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, Rome, Amsterdam, Oslo,
etc.... That's an aweful lot of workers just in the store, and many
many more in the production plants of each company.

Just a thought.

Steve/asian_lovr2