I'm looking for the English equivalent to the German word Manufaktur.
Basically, a Manufaktur is just a factory, but in German it is assigned with "premium" and "hand-made". The term comes up as a little bit old-fashioned, but it is used for factories that work in a rock-solid way and produce very high quality products.
When you call a factory a Manufaktur, you think of the products as being "art", not just "products". E.g., there may be a Manufaktur for jewelry or watches. But also luxury and premium-brand clothes are made in a Manufaktur, not just in a factory.
The Latin origin (manus = hand, facere = to make) has a big influence to the German meaning of the word.
When I looked it up in the dictionary, I was given manufactory and manufacture as translations. A little Googling pointed me in the direction that both words are highly assigned with industrial production – and the premium approach is not given in the English word.
So, to cut a long story short: What might be an appropriate translation of the German word "Manufaktur"?
Best Answer
I have seen Manufaktur translated as Studio.
Although more normally a place to produce artworks or designs, it has connotations in English of a place where quality articles are hand-made, or at least hand-finished.