Craftsmanship Quarterly: Latest Stories
Winter 2022 - Reviving Our Abandoned Small Towns
Could Small Still Be Beautiful?
For a brief time in the mid-1970s, a British economist named E.F. Schumacher changed the conversation across the Western world with a daring book entitled “Small Is Beautiful.” Schumacher argued that the push for endless growth was destroying the foundations of meaningful work, and it was doomed to fail. Although Schumacher died before he could develop his ideas, a center founded in his name has tried to continue his legacy. Might his message be even more timely today?
By BRYCE T. BAUER
New Podcasts
Listen to “Parts & Recreation”
What makes people devote hours to the frustrating task of gluing together pieces so small you have to pick them…
Written by JEFF GREENWALD Narrated by MITCH GREENBERG
Listen to “Historical Clothing’s Comeback”
A collection of sewing enthusiasts, dedicated to the anachronistic art of making old-fashioned clothes, stumbles onto a path that revives…
Written by BETH WINEGARNER Narrated by AVANTHIKA SRINIVASAN
Listen to “Could Co-Ops Solve Income Inequality?”
In the Basque country of Northern Spain, the Mondragon Corporation—the world’s largest co-operative business enterprise—has found ways to weather economic…
Written by ROBERTO LOVATO Narrated by Göran Norquist
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Videos
Watch “Mike Morgan’s Quest to Make Traditional Skin Boats”
Mike Morgan’s fascination with small, traditional watercraft dates back to the ’80s. Building on his decades of experience as a…
By MIKE MORGAN, SIMON MORRIS, and JERRY CROSS
Watch “The Ancient Mangle of Santarcangelo di Romagna”
In a tiny town on Italy’s Northeastern coast, the Marchi family printworks may be the world’s last shop to produce…
By LUISA GROSSO
Watch “The Book Doctor”
Master book restorer Pietro Livi couldn’t find the right equipment to save large numbers of Italy’s priceless, flood-damaged texts. So…
By LUISA GROSSO
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Field Notes
Metalsmith Forges Opportunities for Black Women Artists
Within an arts ecosystem that often marginalizes people of color, Karen Smith found a nontraditional path to becoming a metal…
By RUTH TERRY
New Mexico’s Modern Saint-Makers
The carving and painting of santos, or devotional art, is one of the oldest living folk art traditions in the…
By ROSEMARY DIAZ
When Life Handed Her Yarn, Adella Colvin Spun a Bright Future
The founder of LolaBean Yarn Co. didn’t expect to move from New York City to rural Georgia, or to become…
By RUTH TERRY
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