Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover!

In Praise of Shadows

A) The design isn't always about what you see, it is about all of the other human senses as well. For instance, the way a lacquer ware bowl would feel in your hands and the way it would sound hitting another surface or something.

B) No, i have never eaten anything in authentic lacquer ware

The Theory of Decorative Art - Hand Work-Machine Work

In this article it is just reinforcing the fact that a valuable piece is not just being made to look good but the way it was created adds its own value. You can not have something that is machine made have the same kind of value as that of something hand made. 

Hand Made:  Machine Made:

To summarize these two readings, it is easy to say that if you want to find the true value of something, look deeper than the surface.

Tanizaki, Jun'ichiro (1977). In praise of shadows. (T.J. Harper and E.G. Seidensticker, trans.) Sedgwich,ME: Leete's Island Books, Inc. (original work published in 1933).

Frank, Isabelle (editor) (2000). The theory of decorative art: An anthology of European and American writings 1750 - 1940. New York: Yale University Press.