USA

Beyond our own study of automation, workers, and the changing workplace, Kristin Sharp and I relied on a range of articles and other experts to draw our conclusions. Here are links to our main sources, arranged by topic. The looming recession, and its possible causes One of the most recent articles — both comprehensive and…

As a child, Shelly Schoppert was drawn to video games and computers and loved “the thrill of figuring out how to make things work.” But her parents discouraged her from pursuing a job in IT; so she got an associates degree in general studies and worked for 15 years in the healthcare field, as a…

In early 2018, after the release of a positive national jobs reports, some experts said the glowing numbers couldn’t be trusted, and actually indicated a “wage-less recovery.” No wonder. For the last few decades, both the private and public sectors have gradually weakened the support structures that have nurtured the American workforce for generations. Two experts connect the dots on this new dilemma, and look for solutions.

Almost hidden on a funky old pier along San Francisco’s waterfront, Autodesk, a world leader in digital tools for makers, is running a prototype shop that seems more like a high-tech playground for grown-ups. In between contracts to make, say, a steel ship propeller with a massive 3-D printer, the company takes in sculptors, engineers, and architects who are pushing the boundaries of their own work. The effect of all this energy is a level of innovation that is expanding—and perhaps redefining—the meaning of craftsmanship.

WOOL GIFTS FOR THE SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS: The wool in The North Face’s Cali Wool Beanie comes from a Northern California sheep ranch dedicated to methods of land management that are proven to regenerate the soil instead of depleting it. This allows the land to “sequester” carbon in the land, which slows climate change. There isn’t…

In today’s increasingly automated world, why bother toiling with hand tools and sawdust? And what makes someone a master craftsman, or craftswoman? In a new book, Gary Rogowski—a master furniture maker and the founder of Northwest Woodworking Studio, in Portland, Oregon—ruminates on the four decades he has spent “at the bench,” the “magic” in old tools, and the principles of mastery and creative focus, not matter what your calling happens to be.

As we inch closer to another summer, a tinkerer’s mind is likely to go looking for the chance (and the time) to build that rare, handmade item that he or she has always fantasized about. To inspire such glorious flights of fancy, last spring we created a guide—the first of its kind—to the most respected…

For an aspiring craftsperson, the best place in the country to live, based on the area’s support for the arts, would be Minnesota. Once Angela Robins figured that out, she starting putting down roots there—and then finding ways to make beautiful things out of the wood that grew from the roots that others had planted…