Occupy Your Bathroom
Every few years, some new razor system hits the market pledging to save your face and your pocketbook. Virtually all of them miss the boat, because the golden age of shaving occurred 50 years ago. The good news is that all that vintage gear is still available, and a few entrepreneurs are now making beautiful, modern versions that are built to last.
Written and photographed by TODD OPPENHEIMER
Throwaway Nation
The practice of deliberately making goods not meant to last, or be repaired—a concept called "planned obsolescence"—was invented in America, perfected in America, and can now claim victory in leaving the U.S. with the world's largest waste stream. Why are we so addicted to buying stuff that will soon be worthless? And what can we do to get off this destructive treadmill?
Written by JULIA SCHEERES
The Cowboy Folklorist
Though he refers to himself as simply a "songster and storyteller," Andy Hedges is compiling a one-of-a-kind historical archive of cowboy music and poetry—and bringing the legends of the genre together on CD and stage.
Written and photographed by MEREDITH LAWRENCE
The Cigar Box Guitar Maker
When a promising rock musician tired of the road and the pressure, he gave up music and got a job at a hardware store. Then one day, he had a revelation.
Written by NANCY LEBRUN
Photography by STEPHEN KRAMER
Made in Prison: A Craftsmanship Mini-Documentary
Inside some Italian prisons, female inmates are using discarded fabrics to handcraft a range of goods to sell, and learning valuable job skills—literally stitching up their lives behind bars.
Story and film by LUISA GROSSO
CRAFTSMANSHIP MAGAZINE
Explore the Magazine
The Craftsmanship Initiative is dedicated to reclaiming craftsmanship’s principles of excellence, beauty, and durability as a pathway to a more sustainable world. The flagship venture of the initiative, which operates as a non-profit, is Craftsmanship Magazine, a multimedia publication that focuses on master artisans and innovators whose work informs our quest.
Keeping the Beat: Custom-Made Conducting Batons
A good conductor can lead an orchestra with almost anything — even a chopstick. Leonard Bernstein was known to conduct a full symphony with just his eyebrows. Why, then, in this age of cheap manufacturing, are handmade, custom conducting batons still in demand?
Written by JEFF GREENWALD
Watch “Made in Prison”
Inside some Italian prisons, female inmates are using discarded fabrics to handcraft a range of goods to sell. By learning valuable job skills and life skills, these women are literally stitching up their lives behind bars.
By LUISA GROSSO
Watch “Jack Mauch Making a Door with Hand-Roasted Veneer”
In this 4-minute video by Jesse Beecher, watch craftsman Jack Mauch make a wooden door, hand-roasted slat by slat.
By JESSE BEECHER
Watch “Josh Kornbluth: On the Short, Intense Life of the Oboe Reed”
Josh Kornbluth, perhaps best known as a comic monologist, is also an accomplished oboist. Here, Josh plays his oboe and talks about the challenges of reed-making for his instrument.
By Craftsmanship Magazine
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 handmade, rust-printed textiles from raw hemp, using a massive stone press dating to the 1600s.
By LUISA GROSSO
Listen to “Keeping the Beat: Custom-Made Conducting Batons”
Written by JEFF GREENWALD
Narrated by JEFF GREENWALD
