Listen to “The Joy of Experimentation,” with Andy Graham
The Bay Area musician, instrument maker, and inventor offers us a peek inside his studio—and his unique creative process.
Listen to “On Adaptability and Letting Go,” with Annie Morhauser
From selling her glassware at craft fairs to seeing her work in the Smithsonian, Annie Morhauser has earned a place in design history. What advice does she have for other artisan-entrepreneurs?
Listen to “Paul and Elizabeth Kaiser on Healing our Soil, and Going Beyond Organic”
In this episode of our Artisan Interview audio series, Todd Oppenheimer sits down with Paul and Elizabeth Kaiser, a husband-and-wife farming team who have been at the forefront of the regenerative agriculture movement. Hear how regenerative techniques help fight the effects of climate disruption; some of the mind-boggling results they found in testing their soil…
Listen to “Designing a Climate-Resilient Garden,” with Cricket Riley
Take a virtual tour of Bancroft Garden & Nursery in Walnut Creek, California, and learn how a master gardener designs for climate resilience.
Listen to “Why Letterpress Endures” with master printer Blake Riley
This week on “The Secrets of Mastery,” the creative director of Arion Press discusses his craft’s appeal through the centuries—and his own, surprisingly egalitarian views on what ‘mastery’ means.
Real Film Strikes Back
Against all odds, and despite the efforts of Hollywood and Silicon Valley to make movies in digital form, old-fashioned, analog, motion-picture film is hotter than ever. What is it about the mystery and magic of celluloid that digital production methods, with all their high-tech tricks, can’t seem to match?
Written by DAVID MUNRO
One Night at the Fixit Clinic with Peter Mui
A white stucco building with blue trim rises on the corner of 48th and Shattuck, just a block from the hotspots in Oakland’s buzzing Temescal district. Built in 1933 as the Ligure Club—a social center for the area’s Italian garbage men—it later became the Omni: a live music venue that hosted concerts by Blue Oyster…
View “The Master Watchmaker”
As our timepieces have become increasingly digital (and their functions increasingly invisible), we’ve almost forgotten that these devices were once handmade masterpieces—with miniature gears, chains, springs, and balance wheels that kept time with amazing precision. Today, most watchmakers don’t even know how to repair these old mechanical wonders. Jean-Pierre Bourroux is a notable exception. A…
“Miracle in a Box” — the Quintessence of Repair
In many of our favorite gathering places—schools, churches, concert halls, jazz clubs—pianos still take center stage. Some of these instruments are still going strong more than a century after their birth. Come enjoy a remarkable documentary that follows one shop of technicians that keeps these beloved, complicated beasts alive. The best of these shops can also improve a piano, even when it’s well into its elderly years.
Introduction by TODD OPPENHEIMER
Film by JOHN KORTY
Narrated by JOHN LITHGOW