Washington

To letterpress lovers, the Heidelberg Windmill is a beloved icon of beauty and durability. This historic print shop in Olympia, WA, is devoted to keeping its Windmills—and their flawless prints—alive.

A Pacific Northwest textile artist and naturalist uncovers nature’s hidden hues, creating stunning natural dyes from fungi and lichens foraged near her home.

By the late 90s, digital printing was king and hand-painted signage—as well as apprenticeships for sign-painters—were fading fast from the American landscape. Ira Coyne didn’t let that hold him back.

Setting out to buy herself a manual typewriter, an AI-weary writer visits the last full-time typewriter repair shop in Washington state—and encounters a time machine, of sorts.

My understanding of the chisel, a common tool at my workbench, grew until I thought I knew everything about it. Then a revelation occurred that changed both my use of the tool and my sense of how I learned. Consider the mighty wedge, one of the ancients’ most basic machines. Give me a wedge, and…

When Bob Kramer decided it was time to make his own cutlery, he had no idea that his career turn would take him deep into the secret lives of knives. Now he’s established a reputation as one of the most revered bladesmiths in the world—playing David to the Goliath cutlery manufacturers of Germany and Japan.

Once upon a time, around 2014, Bob Kramer, a Master Bladesmith who had made his name by hand-forging some of the world’s finest kitchen knives, was itching for a new frontier. He wanted a project that had some local origins; the only problem was that the American Northwest, where he lived, never produced any iron.…

On the first warm Friday night of spring, the last place you’d expect teenagers to gather is at a middle school. But a group of expert high-school glassblowers in Tacoma, Washington, does just that every week—they work in the hot shop run by Hilltop Artists, a local nonprofit. Hilltop maintains a fully functional glass-blowing shop…

Boutiques selling hip shoulder bags seem to be all the rage these days. Some look rustic enough to take into the woods, some more suited to the streets of Manhattan. With all these offerings, how does an eager consumer judge quality? Herewith, a visit with four contrasting American leathercrafting shops. And a little story about Marv Obenauf, a former firefighter turned master artisan of leather dressings.