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Calligraphy’s Hurdles
Picking up a longtime hobby, our publisher tries out some new calligraphy tools and techniques, only to find that mastering graceful script is harder—and messier—than it may appear....
The Mad Science and Master Craft of Handblown Lab Glass
With specialized training, professional glassblowers, like those of the West Berkeley co-op Adams & Chittenden, can also make scientific glass, turning out precise, customized tools for advancing research and...
A Man on an Unusual Mission: Bringing the Alphorn Back to France
In a former silk weaver’s workshop in Lyon, a carpenter and trained musician is breathing new life into the alphorn—an instrument that was on the brink of extinction in France....
Granddaughters of the Clay: A Family Legacy of Pueblo Pottery
In honor of Native American Heritage month, a rare and deeply personal look inside the living tradition of Pueblo pottery—written by a descendant of one of the great matriarchs of clay....
Woodworking vs. Perfection
Wood entices us with its natural beauty, usefulness, and endless variety. Yet, perhaps more than any other raw material, it defies the artisan's...
The Espadrille: Spain’s Beloved, Timeless Shoe
The long march of espadrilles, from medieval Spanish peasantry to global shoe icon....
Fighting Fast Furniture Waste, One Reupholstered Sofa at a Time
Cindy Feinauer wants to talk about “fast furniture.” More than 9.5 million tons of furniture are thrown into U.S. landfills every year, according...
Porcelain Handbags? A Tale of Two Cultures and One Bold Career Leap
Anne Loquineau left a traditional career path to follow her passion. Now she crafts sculptural (and surprisingly sturdy) porcelain bags that highlight her dual heritage and unique vision....
My First Design
Gary Rogowski, a master woodworker and furniture designer (and longtime Craftsmanship collaborator) reflects on how his first handmade bench came...
The Last Jacquard Silk Weavers
In Lyon, the silk-weaving capital of Europe for centuries, the rhythmic clatter of Jacquard Looms once emanated from about 30,000 workshops....
Vintage Machines, Perfect Prints: The Legacy of The Sherwood Press
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....
The Uncommon Quilts of Joe Cunningham
When Joe Cunningham started making quilts, in 1979, it was an unusual occupation for a man—a fact that set him free as a fabric artist....
Rediscovering the Craft of Slow Writing
A pen, a notebook, a vintage typewriter, some art supplies: A writer’s quest to reclaim her love of the craft opens up a new creative chapter (so...
Measuring by Eye
Precision is more than a relative concept. One is not ‘sort of’ precise in furniture-making. Precision involves an attitude about the work; standards for making; and, in fact, a way of seeing the world. There...
The Puzzling Craft of Dissectology
Our contributing editor digs into the fascinating, unusually detailed world of handcrafted jigsaw puzzles—and the little-known word for their devotees....
“How to Make a Good Day”: Scott and Ene Constable on Crafting a Meaningful Life
For the team behind Wowhaus Studio, great public art isn't just about design; it's about creating purpose, meaning, and joy. They apply this...
Looking for an AI-Proof Career? The Trades are a Smart Choice.
While AI proceeds to decimate career paths, take heart: Not all jobs are at risk. Educators, and many others, are seeing the hands-on trades as skilled, high-paying careers that robots can’t replace....
The Fragility of India’s Artisan Communities
India’s communities of specialized artisans—who are often the knowledge-keepers of their centuries-old craft traditions—face an uncertain future....
Alissa Allen’s Mycopigments Create a ‘Palette of Place’
A Pacific Northwest textile artist and naturalist uncovers nature’s hidden hues, creating stunning natural dyes from fungi and lichens foraged near her home....
Black Artists Are Reshaping How We Think About American Ceramics
Contemporary Black ceramicists are continuing a long legacy of Black Americans working in clay. As they find new ways to tell their stories, the art world is finally catching up....
Reviving the Craft of Plant-Based Photo Developing
For Beatrice Thornton, an artist, photographer, and archivist based in Oakland, CA, nature is more than a muse: It's also the source of the sustainable materials she uses for developing analog film....
What Science Says About Craft, Creativity, and Mental Health
For nearly 30 years, woodworking has provided Miles Boudreaux with purpose, connection, and a creative "fix." Now, science is catching up to what...
Calligraphy’s Magicians
Inside the quiet world of calligraphy, a robust subculture keeps the ancient craft alive by continuously evolving, blending tradition with innovation in unexpected ways....
A Hand-Painted Welcome: Ira Coyne’s Lasting Imprint on Olympia
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....
Preserving the Art of the Written Word, One Vintage Keystroke at a Time
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....
From Plastic Waste to Zero-Waste, One Soap Bar at a Time
How one journalist (and her daughters) turned her frustration with household plastic waste into a sustainable, handmade line of organic soap bars—crafted with creativity and a whole lot of heart....
My Father’s Mallet
After graduating college, I finally got up the nerve to quit trying to be what everyone else wanted me to be: priest, professor, or professional. My Lit major brain was tired from working up essays on...
In a Tiny Sardinian Village, a Traditional Craft Holds on by a Thread
Maria Luisa Frongia sews and embroiders traditional garments by hand, one at a time, keeping a centuries-old custom alive in a rapidly changing world....
Brian Callan Reclaims Ireland’s Fallen Trees—and its Tradition of Harp-making
Brian Callan is part of a slow, steady revival of traditional harp-making in the Emerald Isle. Most of his handmade harps are built from fallen trees—some of them ancient; each with a story to tell....
The Moral Lessons of a Fountain Pen
Back in the day—in this case, from the early 1900s to around 1950—if someone wanted to write anything down with permanence, they reached for a pen of the kind one rarely sees anymore. These were called...
A Chiseled Education
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....
The Artisan’s Paradox
It's a curious truth: In a world dominated by mass production, the finest handmade goods often cost less than their factory-made counterparts....
Introduction to “A Perfect Note: Café Jacqueline and The Art of the Soufflé”
Deep in San Francisco’s storied North Beach neighborhood, Jacqueline Margulis has been making soufflés for her café’s customers five nights a week for more than 40 years. Welcome to our story—and...
Inside Khari Baoli: India’s—and Asia’s—Largest Spice Market
In the heart of Old Delhi, a bustling market street called Khari Baoli serves as the home of Asia’s—and perhaps the world’s—largest spice market. Along both sides of this street sit heaping mounds and baskets...
Women Who Embroider the Air
In Burano—a tiny island 4 miles from the city of Venice—the ancient art of ultra-fine, hand-sewn lace somehow remains alive. And so does the equally ancient culture surrounding it. Our correspondent visits...
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...
Do the Most Interesting Musical Pipes Come from Ireland?
While Scottish culture is branded by its famous Highland bagpipes, its neighbor across the water has long made a very different set of pipes that plays a much wider range of music. Our correspondent visits the...
Mexico’s Master Guitar Makers
When a Disney film, “Coco,” spotlighted a small Mexican town where almost every shop makes guitars, it suddenly made ornate, white guitars famous. Underneath the new pop icon, however, lies a variety of much...
Hitting All the High Notes: Delbert Anderson Trumpets On
Uniting Navajo traditional songs with the dynamic currents of contemporary jazz and jazz improvisation, the trumpet master weaves a vibrant tapestry of sound....
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 obsessed with hand-dyeing yarn. But when opportunity knocked, Adella Colvin didn’t hesitate....
Western-Wear Designer ‘Jukebox Mama’ Paints with Thread
Sarie Gessner—known for her Western-inspired suits, custom embroidery, and passion for music—is dressing some of country and Americana's brightest stars for the stage....
Brian Boggs, Master of the Chair
Brian Boggs, maker of fine, handcrafted wood furniture in Asheville, N.C., just can’t seem to leave a good idea alone. A lifetime of tinkering and experimentation has led to his line of innovative woodworking...
Breathing Lives into Wood
Mike Dangeli, a First Nations artist and craftsman from the Nisga'a tribe in Western Canada, has devoted his life to preserving Indigenous history in masks, dance, song, and, mostly now, by carving ornate...
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...
The Case for a Maintenance Mindset
A conversation with Stewart Brand, one of the most influential thinkers and pioneers of our time, still known for his 1968 creation, the Whole Earth Catalog. We talk to him about his latest project: a book,...
Is France Making Planned Obsolescence Obsolete?
In 2015, France became the first country in the world to pass a law aimed at banning planned obsolescence. In the years since, to give the law some teeth, France has continually added additional rules and...
Real Shaving: a Gift Guide
For anyone who shaves--men, women, or any gender in between--today's disposable razors, disposable cans of cheap foam, and other throwaway items cost too much, and create too much trash. To help us counteract...
The Great Washing Machine Scam
As consumer technology improves, household mainstays like the basic washing machine keep sprouting new, unnecessary functions. Many of those functions are difficult if not impossible to repair, which makes the...
Try This at Home: A Q&A with Kyle Wiens, Right-to-Repair Crusader
Craftsmanship's Contributing Editor Jeff Greenwald caught up with Kyle Wiens, co-founder and CEO of iFixit, the world’s largest repair community, to talk about what makes repair a craft—and where the...
Cuba’s Madres (y Padres) of Invention
Since the communist revolution of 1959, Cuba has been on an economic rollercoaster. The country has lurched from dependency to self-sufficiency, in a bubble of isolation where technological time stopped. Our...
“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....
Mending: An Ancient Craft for Modern Times
Traditional DIY basics like clothing repair have become covetable knowledge again. With the fast-fashion machine on notice for its abysmal climate footprint, could this be mending’s big moment?...
The VW Doctor Is In
In a corrugated tin shed that somehow survived California’s massive fires in Sonoma Valley, Gary Freeman labors to keep old VW Beetles and vans—the cars that defined the counterculture of the 1960s—chugging...
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...
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....
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...
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....
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....
The Return of the Harmonica
In the 1970s, Hohner, the world’s largest harmonica manufacturer, changed its flagship model, and in the process its signature sound. A few musicians and harp customizers waged a quiet rebellion. And they won....
Washington, D.C.’s Homegrown Funk: Go-Go Music
In honor of Juneteenth and Black Music Month, take a tour through the history—and the sounds—of the musical culture that has been a cherished folkway in and around the nation’s capital for decades....
The Agony and Ecstasy of an Oboe Reed Maker
Of all the wind instrument players in an orchestra, oboists are among the few who have to spend more time making their reeds than playing their music. As the comic monologist Josh Kornbluth has painfully...
Of Dahlias, Devoted Growers, and their High-Stakes Competitions
While many gardeners take their flowers seriously, few devote almost all of their time to growing one breed—the dahlia—then drive hundreds of miles to go mano a mano against other fanatical growers, for noth...
The Kayak’s Cultural Journey
For millennia, Indigenous peoples across the world have built and used wooden skin boats to fish and hunt, for sport and travel, even for warfare. Skin kayaks are the unique product of Arctic peoples, but...
The American Folk School Movement and ‘Slow Economics’
Rather than looking to big corporate employers like Walmart for economic stability, could more rural communities in the U.S. welcome a slower growing, more sustainable economic partner?...
Ann Morhauser, The Glass Builder
Many artisans struggle to pay the bills, hoping for a little good press along the way. Ann Morhauser started with all of those odds, and then some, in a tiny studio near Santa Cruz, CA. Today, her unique...
The Apprenticeship Ambivalence
Amidst political discussion about expanding apprenticeships in the U.S., two contradictory realities persist. One is a changing landscape, in both school and work, that increasingly needs a sound...
Berea College Students Craft a Bright Future, Tuition-Free
As U.S. student debt balloons to $1.75 trillion nationally, calls for loan forgiveness and low-cost or free college tuition programs are getting louder. Sound impossible? Kentucky’s Berea College has been...
Redesigning an Old Recipe: The School Lunch
Stereotypical school lunch fare (think fish sticks and frozen “pizza”) has been the butt of jokes for decades. It’s an industry ripe for change, and Chef Joan Gallagher is at the vanguard —...
Jack Mauch: A New Renaissance Man
Craftsman Jack Mauch, still in his 30s, is already creating breathtaking examples of craftsmanship in everything from furniture-making to ceramics and metalwork. If this kind of range is what it takes to...
The Play Gap
In Providence, Rhode Island, Janice McDonnell started one of the unlikeliest of revolutions. On seven empty lots in the inner city, she set up a new kind of playground—places where kids could build anything...
Introduction to “The Future Is Handmade” — A Craftsmanship Mini-Documentary Film
A Dutch archaeologist finds artisans and thought leaders who are redefining craft, skill and, ultimately, the real meaning of a knowledge economy: a short film presented by The Craftsmanship Initiative, in...
The Sculptor vs. The Robots
As automation spreads, even into the world of fine art, an American sculptor proudly holds the barricades with the tools, techniques, and even the marble source used centuries ago by Michelangelo. Which side...
What? A Bamboo Bicycle?
OK, so some of them may look silly—brown and fat, with oversized joints. But Craig Calfee, a respected (and highly successful) carbon frame builder, swears by the strength, flexibility, and ecological value of...
San Francisco’s “Last Black Calligrapher” Invites You to Go Deeper
Hunter Saxony III imbues his lettering work with layers of meaning, while also intentionally leaving it open to interpretation. In the process, he’s taking an age-old, traditional art form in a new...
The Rise and Fall of Toy Theatre
In the depths of London, a “toy theatre” born in the 1800s continues to stage regular performances. In their heyday, these productions drew London’s top writers and artists, creating Victorian England’s...
Paula Wolfert and the Clay Pot Mystique
A gastro-scientific investigation of why cooks believe food tastes better (note: much better) when it’s cooked in a ceramic pot. Tour guide: Paula Wolfert, the legendary queen of American clay-pot cooking....
Venice and the High Art of the Mask
Many cultures have enjoyed the playful freedom that one feels after donning a mask. But no place has taken it to greater extremes, both elegant and diabolical, than Venice. A tour of the world of Venetian...
Intentional Inhalations: Why Natural, Handmade Incense Stands Apart
Incense has been around for millennia, and is relatively simple to make. It can be purchased at any gift shop for a few dollars, so why spend more for the handmade, whole-plant version? Mike Paré, one of very...
Italy’s Ancient Textile-Printing Mangle
Only a handful of artisans still practice the centuries-old craft of rust printing on fabric. Of those who do, even fewer use the traditional stone mangle, or press, on handwoven, raw hemp fabric, yielding...
Colorado’s Marble Motherlode
Deep in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, almost hidden in a steep canyon that bottoms out 8,000 feet above sea level, sits an old mining town that provided marble for some of America’s most famous memorials....
Pablita Velarde’s Legacy: The Pueblo Artisans of the American Southwest
Among the different Indigenous cultures represented by the Southwest’s Native American tribes, some of the richest history of craftsmanship has been, and still is, practiced by the Pueblo Indians. For some of...
Chef Nephi Craig: Decolonizing Recovery through Native Foodways
Chef Nephi Craig leveraged his twin passions for cooking and Native American food sovereignty to heal himself from substance abuse. Today he uses his personal experience—and his kitchen—to support other Native...
The Clay Conjurer
Felipe Ortega devoted his life to creating the perfect pot of beans—and to teaching people from around the world, regardless of ethnicity, to make micaceous clay pots in the same style he learned from a local...
Painting for Eternity
For anyone who appreciates the intricately decorated walls and ceilings found in many Old World houses of worship, some of the finest examples of the form can be found in the mosaics of Ravenna, Italy. This...
Food Shift
In an era of chronic drought, could desert crops become the new sustainable dinner?...
Keepers of Indigenous Tradition
Unlike most Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, many Native American tribes located in the Southwest have retained their ancestral homelands and their sovereign governance through the ages. This has enabled...
Tomorrow’s Lobsterman
New England’s fabled (and much valued) lobstering industry is struggling with all kinds of challenges: an aging workforce, lobster catches that swing from record highs to depressing lows, new regulations, and...
Acequias and the Hydraulic Genius of Shari’ah Law
You may not have heard the term “acequia,” but it describes one of oldest, most common-sense systems of irrigation on the planet. The basic idea is to use, and share, a river’s natural patterns rather than...
The Healing Power of “Bello”
On the Northeastern coast of Italy, not far from such meccas of refinement as Bologna and Florence, an unusual drug treatment community named San Patrignano has grown and thrived for more than 40 years. The...
Shrine and the Art of Resilience
Pandemic, political strife, poverty, war. In times of extreme upheaval—global or personal—can the act of art-making ease suffering and strengthen resilience? photo by Melati Citrawireja The first time I met...
Straw Bale Construction: The Ultra-Ecological House
Every few years, discussions about using straw bales as a building material come up again. As our environmental challenges mount—from wildfires to hurricanes—straw bales seem to offer a sustainable answer. And...
When Indigenous Women Win
In a small, Indigenous community in the mountains of Michoacán, Mexico, a band of determined women led the overthrow of a criminal cartel. Their victory gave the town a new sense of purpose by reviving its...
The Vegetable Detective
A molecular biologist is finding what could be dangerous levels of heavy metals in plants like kale, often called the “queen" of the vegetable kingdom. And they've shown up the most in organic varieties....
Tips and Inspiration from England’s Great Dixter Gardens
Fergus Garrett, one of the world’s preeminent gardening experts, talks about the art of making fine gardens, and fine gardeners. His tips are drawn from his years managing Great Dixter House & Gardens, the...
The Drought Fighter
On a frigid, eight-acre farm just outside downtown Sebastopol, Paul Kaiser has devised a hyper-intensive form of organic agriculture that is grossing more than $100,000 an acre. And, he believes, saving the...
Cuba’s Harvest of Surprises
More than two decades ago, a Cuban farming revolution that had nothing to do with ideology bore a bounty of fruit. What could the U.S. learn about sustainable agriculture from its much smaller neighbor?...
The Little Block-Printing Workshop that Could
“A rising tide doesn’t raise people who don’t have a boat. We have to build the boat for them. We have to give them the basic infrastructure to rise with the tide.” – Rahul Gandhi...
The Hidden Powers of a Sheep
While the fashion industry continues to produce more and more clothing made from synthetics, with all their harmful effects, we’ve ignored the wonders of wool. The material is natural, durable, and endlessly...
The Bug Whisperer
Mark Sturges doesn’t advertise and clients have to find him by word of mouth, but find him they do. He’s become a master of an agricultural art as old as agriculture itself: basic compost....
America’s Military-Industrial Oligarchy vs. Our Small Towns
Two small-town Cold War facilities—one in Maine, another in South Carolina—each attempted to chart a peacetime future. One became a hub for green and high-tech industry; the other turned into a corrupt,...
The West’s Rural Visionary
The town of John Day sits in the middle of Oregon’s High Desert country, threaded by an abused river, surrounded by a dying timber industry, and getting hotter and drier every year. Enter Nick Green, a new...
The Craft of Reclamation: Sustainable Addiction Recovery in Appalachia
In Appalachian Ohio, craftsmanship is a vital piece of the growing support system for recovery—philosophically, economically, and on a very personal scale. Editor’s Note: On March 1, 2022, in his State of the...
Build Back with Beer (Craft Beer, to be Precise…)
When veteran journalists James and Deborah Fallows spent four years criss-crossing the U.S. looking for what makes small-town revivals succeed, they repeatedly found one near-constant: craft breweries There...
Congressman John Lewis’ Artistic Side
The late congressman’s civil rights legacy of “good trouble” is well-known, but his inner circle also knew him as an art lover and avid collector, particularly of works by Black artists....
The Craft of Sustainable Rice Farming
For generations, the Isbell family of Arkansas has been tinkering with innovations in rice farming. They were the first American farmers to grow elite varieties of rice for sushi and sake, and have pioneered...
Italy’s Last Maker of Traditional Wooden Hat Blocks
An homage, in film, to a third-generation Italian artisan who is the last maker of the traditional, handcarved wooden shapes used as hat blocks....
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...
The Secret to Vintage Jeans
In November, 2017, the doors closed in North Carolina on Cone Denim's White Oak plant, one of the first, and (for a while) the last, big textile mill in the U.S. to make vintage-style denim. When our...
The Human Cost of Recycled Cotton
Everyone in the fashion world wants to find a more sustainable, environmentally friendly way to make cotton clothing—or a benign (and equally comfy) alternative to it. In Scandinavia, an enterprising cadre of...
Can the U.S. Bring its Supply Chain Back Home?
Most economic experts say the pandemic didn't cause today's supply chain disruptions; it simply brought them to the surface—and made them worse. Meanwhile, Harry Moser has been quietly working, for more than a...
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 artist. Now she’s inspiring women like her do the same. Karen Smith’s website bio...
Argentina’s Textile Crusader
Amidst the fashion world’s growing interest in the luxuriously soft fabric that can be made from South American camelids like alpaca, one member of this family with uncommonly fine fleece has been largely...
The Norwegian Sweater Detective
In southern Norway, in a small workshop at the bottom of a verdant, postcard-perfect valley, Annemor Sundbø gathers remnants, paintings, and authentic reproductions of traditional Norwegian sweaters. Her...
Eco-Fashion’s Animal Rights Delusion
When you put on a stylish jacket made of rayon, vegan leather, or even recycled plastic, are you sure you’re helping the planet more than if you had bought one made of animal leather? In this journey down a...
Led by the Nose
If you're tired of smelling like everyone else, you can say 'no' to the big perfume houses, and their overpriced, generic scents. In a growing number of kitchen labs and small shops around the globe,...
Italy’s Book Doctor
In the city of Bologna, home to the world's oldest university (as well as some of Italy’s finest cuisine), Pietro Livi has developed an unusual machine shop. Part artisanal and part high-tech, his operation is...
The Soul of French Invention
Woodworker and author Gary Rogowski makes the case for the Musée des Arts et Métiers as Paris' best museum, and offers a guide to its extensive holdings....
The Reed Artist
A writer searches Istanbul's cafés and alleys for the king of the ney, an enigmatic — and at times, endangered — flute that has long been a mainstay of Muslim musical traditions....
India’s Rug Saint
Nand Kishore Chaudhary has built one of India’s most successful handmade carpet ventures by forging close ties to a community that most businesses on the continent shun: the poor, largely uneducated caste of...
Greece’s Secret to Perfect Honey
While the United States and other prosperous countries have struggled to keep their honeybees alive, Greece—a country suffering from a decade of intense economic troubles—continues to produce what many...
Spoonism
"How I stumbled upon the world’s most perfect eating utensil": Owen Edwards pays homage to the humble, essential spoon, particularly the version designed by the legendary Massimo Vignelli....
The Wootz Hunter
Sometime in the 1800s, long after the Persians had beaten back the Crusaders, the technique for making the mighty swords that won those battles was mysteriously lost. In the centuries that followed, Europe’s b...
Historical Clothing’s Comeback
Who would think that a collection of sewing enthusiasts, dedicated to the anachronistic art of making old-fashioned clothes, would stumble onto a path that revives quality, comfort, ecological consciousness,...
The World’s Greatest Goldbeater
Marino Menegazzo spends his days hammering gold leaf into sheets so fine that your slightest touch will make them dissolve. His workshop—a simple brick building hidden on one of Venice’s myriad piazzas—was...
The Jewelry Archaeologist
In the middle of the Shenandoah Valley, in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Hugo Kohl has pulled off what might be the ultimate act of sustainability—at least regarding jewelry. Through years of painstaking, costly,...
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 U.S., dating back some 400 years. As Semana Santa (Holy Week) marks the holiest of days for...
The Kitchen Bladesmith
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...
An Artist Who Listens
Martha Mae Jones, a New York fabric artist, has built a rich (and financially successful) life by traveling to various countries, bouncing between art and political activism along the way. Throughout it all,...
For Lifelong Artist Kimberly Camp, Art is Life
“There’s no retirement for an artist; it’s your way of living, so there’s no end to it.” ― Henry Moore Following a long, influential career as an arts administrator, Kimberly Camp, 64, seems...
A Home-Grown Social Entrepreneur
Since 2010, Kelly Carlisle has been breaking new ground—literally— for youngsters in East Oakland and beyond, using an urban farm to inspire them to engage with the world as curious citizens. “Part of my...
Soul Food Gets the Vegan Treatment
Driven primarily by health, Black vegan restaurateurs are creating plant-based versions of soul food that avoid meat, salty fats, and other bodily evildoers, while still retaining the succulence and rich...
A Black Artist’s Haven on a (Mostly) White Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard has long been seen as primarily a summer getaway paradise for the East Coast elite. Its reality, however, is far more complex. Dotted throughout the posh homes in this gorgeous island are...
The Architecture of Trust
With only a quick glance at today’s overheated political climate—the balkanized geography between red and blue states, a bombastic former president, the strident social media culture, all culminating in an...
Venice, Gondolas, and Black Magic
After suffering a year of twin terrors—historic floods and the Covid pandemic—the makers of Venice’s legendary gondolas are struggling to survive. To understand the unique design, history, and mystery behind...
The Lost Art of Traditional Bow Hunting
Over the years, the technology for rifles, scopes, and other hunting gear has gotten so powerful there’s little challenge left in the sport. Hunting with a bow and arrow, therefore, has been steadily rising....
In Praise of The Makers
In his new book "Material: Making and the Art of Transformation", master furniture maker and designer Nick Kary explores the roots of craft, through stories of makers and their essential materials....
The Beauty of a Timeless Rowboat
Centuries ago, a fleet of rowboats called Whitehalls plied the waters of the San Francisco Bay, helping the chandlers at their helms ferry goods to and from the giant sailing ships working the city's port....
King Charles Redefines Originality
In a small brick building in East London, in a school developed by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, before he became King Charles, students from around the world are giving new life to a set of artistic...
Can Japan’s Akiya Movement Rebuild Rural Communities?
While rural Japan may not be the first place one envisions as a production site for medieval and Renaissance-era instruments from Europe and Central Asia, this was precisely the craft of master...
The Toolbelt Masters
With gumption, insight, and brilliant use of social media, a few guys in Virginia built an operation that makes what could be the world’s finest toolbelts. In the process, they have also built a community that...
Could Co-Ops Solve Income Inequality?
While COVID restrictions shutter businesses right and left, a more positive picture is emerging from worker-owned companies like Mondragon, the Spanish enterprise that's become the world's largest co-op, and...
A Traditional Balinese Craft Rediscovers Its Roots — in Leaves
If you’ve ever been lucky enough to visit Bali, Indonesia, you might have fond memories of white-sand beaches, ornate temples, and gracious hospitality. But for many Western visitors, the island’s most...
The Quarantined Country Musician
Undaunted by masks, social distancing, and sheltering-in-place orders, Jonathan Byrd continues to draw large audiences. They gather online to watch his band perform all by themselves, from a small stage at The...
Portugal’s Azulejo Detectives
A small, quiet army of historians, scientists, and restoration experts are putting the pieces of Portugal’s past together again, one gorgeous tile at a time. Their efforts are being helped by a new generation ...
In Your Words: Making Matters, More than Ever
As part of our Spring issue theme, “Sheltering at Home Creatively”, we asked our Craftsmanship community to tell us: How has the coronavirus crisis affected your life and livelihood? Has it changed...
Homemade Artisan Bread Made Simple
Confined to our homes during the Covid-19 quarantine, many of us have realized this is an ideal time to start baking our own bread. The idea has spread so fast that stores are running out of flour and yeast....
Film’s New Generation of Experimentalists
In a recent article I wrote for Craftsmanship Magazine, “Real Film Strikes Back”, I tell the story of analog film’s surprising comeback in a motion picture industry that has become almost entirely digitized....
Italy’s Endangered Violin Forest
Since the 16th century, Cremona's luthiers—including Stradivari himself—have been using an unusually resonant wood from Paneveggio, known as Italy's “violin forest,” to handcraft the world's finest string...
“Alebrijes,” Handcrafted Monsters on Parade in Mexico City
Sometime in the 1930s, a Mexico City artisan named Pedro Linares lay on his bed delirious and racked with fever. In his hallucinations, he felt surrounded by a series of terrifying monsters, who were made of...
The Democratization of Craft
Earlier this month, some 400 devotees of the arts and crafts spent three days in Philadelphia exploring the meaning of their obsessions, and the possibilities of spreading the faith. The crowd was gathered by...
Sustainable Fashion, Hands-On Education: a Fibershed Gala
In our fast-paced consumer culture, on a planet that is quickly heating up, how do you spend your dollars in a way that minimizes environmental damage, especially when it comes to clothing and other textiles?...
By Western Hands: Saving Traditional Western Crafts from Extinction
If you watch the video at the end of this story, done by Lisa and Loren Skyhorse, two custom Western saddle makers in Durango, Colorado, it’s easy to be inspired by their skill, and touched by their decades of...
Back to the Future: IFAM Invests in Sustainable Cultural Traditions
Through a wide range of media and styles, the nearly 200 artists who participated in the 16th annual International Folk Art Market (IFAM) in Santa Fe represented vastly different geographic, cultural and...
Fileteado Porteño: Preserving the iconic street art of Buenos Aires
It’s been years since I’ve walked the cobblestone streets of Buenos Aires, but the sights and sounds of the city that doesn’t sleep have never left me. Strolls down narrow alleys and the expansive city avenues...
The Intelligent Hand
For many anthropologists, their work involves delving into obscure corners of humanity’s past; for Trevor Marchand, a Canadian-born anthropology professor in England, the field offered him a way to look into...
A Crucible for Tomorrow’s Trades
The nation’s largest non-profit facility dedicated to education in the industrial arts runs out of a seemingly simple warehouse in West Oakland, California. Fittingly called The Crucible, the venture was...
The Re-Bundled Worker
You’ve read the news: Traditional 9-5 jobs are in decline; a patchwork, “gig economy” of contract workers is rushing in to take their place; and colleges can’t keep up with these changes. The resulting chaos...
Portugal’s Path to Breaking Drug Addiction
While countries like the U.S.—and Italy (outside San Patrignano)—have struggled with drug addiction, Portugal has crafted some of the most effective treatment programs in the world. In some ways, its success...
Crafting a Snow-Covered Castle: The Modern Snow Globe Maker
As she hikes amongst limestone, pine, and the remains of Polish castles, Paulina Ciepał imagines holding it all in the palm of her hand — a world of its own wrapped in glass, always a shake away from a winter...
The Wizard of Old Wheels
Just like cars, today’s motorcycles have become dizzying assemblages of electronic connections—invisible to most riders, inscrutable to many mechanics. The more high-tech these machines become, the more there...
Crafting a More Human Future
Exhibition “HOMO FABER” The intriguing title of this monster exhibition of European craftsmen and women, shown in Venice, Italy, during the final weeks of September, 2018, is not only clever, it’s also...
Finding Your Ikigai in Craftsmanship
The Japanese have a term for what we as human beings search for in life and it’s called Ikigai, or “the meaning of life.” Many people struggle to know exactly what their purpose is, which is why...
Folk Art by the Feds: How a tiny NEA program for apprentices helps keep folk art alive
Apprentice Valerie Edwards (left) has been learning to make Yamani Maidu burden basketry from master artist Shewaya Peck (right). Burden baskets were traditionally used by the Yamani tribe for storage,...
The Soul Of Community
Like many American cities, Durham, N.C. has been turning once-abandoned factories into tech hubs and microbreweries. Over the decades, it has also been building a shared commitment to the poor, the...
Craftsmanship and Community
Connecting with like-minded makers both online and off The work of a craftsperson is precise, detailed and focused. It can also be solitary and isolating. As a hand engraver, most of my time is spent alone at...
An Inside Peek into Small Farm Life
To say that “fiber farmer” Tammy White is a busy woman would be an understatement. And to only address her as a farmer would certainly not encompass the many hats she wears. Add to the list:...
Folk Art on Steroids
For 15 years, the world's folk art makers and enthusiasts have gathered, en masse, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to celebrate the possible when it comes to indigenous craftsmanship. This summer, in just three days,...
The Art of the Joke
When you watch masterful stand-up comics perform, it seems like they are just naturally hilarious. Don’t kid yourself. This is hard work, requiring hours and hours of trial and error. To its masters, the art...
My Adventures with Gold Leaf
When I was younger, I worked as a union painter in Los Angeles (District Council 36, Painters and Allied Trades), and in the early 1980s, I had the opportunity to work on a Bel-Air mansion that belonged to...
Catching Color in Food Waste
Onion skins, avocado pits, beet root tops and used coffee grinds — all items many people think have no other use than the compost pile. But food waste can actually have a much longer shelf life, in the form of...
The New Workforce Dilemma
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...
The Watchman of Lausanne
Every night for the last 612 years, a man has been climbing 153 stone steps of Lausanne’s cathedral to call out the hour, telling the city that all is well. For the last 28 years, this ritual has fallen to...
Is Digital Craftsmanship an Oxymoron?
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....
Felipe Ortega, The Clay Raven
The world recently lost a great talent. For those who were lucky enough to know him, Felipe Ortega’s passing runs deep, even more so because this craftsman was one of only a few master teachers left who...
The Iconic Icelandic Wool Sweater: An Invented Cultural Statement
On this Nordic island, marooned near the peak of the globe, the temperature can drop below -20 degrees. A sweater is a must. Toddlers, teens, and fishermen alike all wear the Icelandic wool sweater, a uniform...
A Woodworker’s Tale
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...
Young Champions of Craftsmanship
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...
The Perfect Pen
Gorgeous pens have always symbolized the art of writing at its finest—the quintessential combination of beauty, tradition, and skill. But did you ever think of the fountain pen as a tool of environmental...
The Vanishing Generation of Italian Shoemakers
The Sustainability of an Important Craft It is commonly accepted if you are making high-end luxury shoes, the shoes are made in Italy regardless of where the brand is based, with few exceptions. Post-World War...
New Life in the Scrap Heap
Three VW Restorers Find Beauty in All the Unexpected Places Amid mounting turmoil over Volkswagen’s diesel emissions scandal, the company has made an announcement that should help to re-polish its old,...
Why Nothing Writes Like a Fountain Pen
A good fountain pen requires virtually no pressure—it just glides across the page. And the ink, which now comes in myriad colors, goes beyond creating letters. It seems to almost decorate a piece of paper....
The Antidote to Fast Fashion? System Dressing
Jill Giordano makes women’s clothing in what might be called sustainable designs: coats, pants, and dresses made with fine fabrics in timeless styles, and in combinations that can be mixed and matched any...
Do-It-Yourself Gelato: How to Attempt the Sweetest Craft at Home
Craftsmanship comes in all shapes, sizes—and flavors. And, as exemplified in Erla Zwingle’s “The Secrets of an Italian Gelato Master,” in Craftsmanship’s Summer 2017 issue, the simple delectability of a frozen...
Summer Workshops for the Aspiring Artisan
Across the U.S., scores of schools and other programs offer courses and workshops in everything from boat-building to glass blowing to knife making. But no one has created an informed guide to all these...
The Power of the Scribe
For centuries, spiritual faith has been shaped in part by how its scribes form the letters of their sacred texts. This is particularly the case with Judaism. We visit with three scribes in three very different...
Tomorrow’s Library
On the leafy edge of residential San Francisco, a simple Greek revival building that once served as a church for Christian Scientists has been transformed into the library of the future. Behold the world’s...
The New Sign Painters
One would think that the invention of digital lettering for our commercial signs—on everything from shops to billboards—was nothing but an industrial step forward. As it’s turned out, yesteryear’s signs, which...
The New Water Alchemists
While annual wildfires and other "natural" disasters mount in Australia, California, and elsewhere, a growing number of researchers and pastoralists around the globe have found remarkable, untapped...
The Celluloid Gumshoe
Eddie Muller has dedicated his life to finding, and restoring, lost films of the great Film Noir era of the 1940s and ’50s. At this point, Muller is much like one of his favorite characters—a beaten down but...
A Tale of Two Vermouths
In a small town outside Torino, Italy, the age-old Vermouth giant, Martini & Rossi has turned this beverage into a model of what might be called industrial spirits craftsmanship. Our correspondent goes...
The California Mirage
The blind spots in the American West’s water systems are in full display in Ventura County, a coastal region of Central California that happens to hold the most lucrative farmland in the state. Equally...
Precious Drops
While many people in arid regions of the world struggle just to find water, others in rain-soaked developing countries face a different challenge: getting water that is safe enough to drink. What will it take...
The Rawhide Artist
Bill Black, a master “rawhider,” has poured his life into refining a simple piece of horse gear called a hackamore. Sometimes used in lieu of a bridle, the device has largely fallen into disuse. But it can...
Amarone: The Slow Wine of Valpolicella
There are many prized vintages from Valpolicella, a postcard-perfect town near Verona, Italy, known for its rich, slightly sweet wines. Over the years, however, as many of these wines have gotten only sweeter,...
From Bicycles to “Pedal Steel” Guitars: One Maker’s Quirky Frontiers
Ross Shafer made his mark creating a popular brand of mountain bikes, called Salsa, and a line of small but crucial bicycle parts that no one had brought to the market before. Now he’s making what might be the...
The best bicycle seats on the planet: A factory tour
Anyone who knows bicycles knows Brooks—the legendary, iconic British company that has been making simple, old-fashioned leather bicycle saddles since 1882. In the ensuing years, many have tried to improve on...
Japan’s Gorgeous, Precarious Fishing Poles
While Japanese master craftsmen command up to $100,000 for turning bamboo into a fishing pole, aspiring younger makers can barely find anyone to take them on as apprentices. And this isn't the only...
My Day with the Duchess
The man was having the day of his life—out fishing Idaho’s gorgeous Snake River, accompanied by his gorgeous wife (“The Duchess of Cascading Water”), and a whopper of a rainbow trout teasing him in the depths...
The Secrets of an Italian Gelato Master
Gelato, it turns out, is a very different creature from ice cream. And there is a reason that the best gelato tastes so creamy yet still light, so balanced, so indescribably perfect. The secret—according to...
How Far Can Beer Science Go?
Where else would you expect to find a band of techno-scientific beer geeks except in the industrial side of San Francisco, Ground Zero for start-ups? Join our fermentation correspondent as she travels to the...
The Mind of a Cartoonist
A dive into the twisted, obsessive, goofy world of Ken Krimstein, who draws cartoons for a range of magazines, including The New Yorker. What does this art form tell us about the nature of humor, and cartooning...
The Shinola Polish
In the 1960s, Shinola, the venerable American shoe-polish company that became famous for a World War II soldier’s crack, “You don’t know shit from Shinola,” shut its doors. The move was a fitting bookend to...
Walmart’s Made-In-USA Shell Game
After being called out for deceptive advertising by a watchdog organization, and then the FTC, Walmart tries to fix the problem by creating a web of confusion. The watchdog's legal counsel believes the...
The Value of Time
When an American made, battery powered, quartz watch costs $1,500, and its counterparts from other countries, including Switzerland, range from $50 to more than $50,000, what’s the difference between them all?...
The Search For The Perfect Leather Bag
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...
Can Pátzcuaro and Surrounding Colonial Crafts Towns Survive Modern Mexico?
In the 1500s, a Spanish bishop turned a collection of pueblos around the Mexican town of Patzcuaro into a center for craftsmanship. The people here are still making and marketing their wares in much the same...
Let Tinkerbell Tinker
As the economy’s reliance on innovation grows, the commercial offerings of toys for girls remains, well, somewhat less than innovative. Fortunately, a few women who are educators, engineers, and entrepreneurs...
An Artisanal Gift Guide
Welcome to Craftsmanship’s inaugural gift guide, where we list the best (or at least the most unusual) items that we could find during our first year exploring the artisan world. Our discoveries include fine...
Printing with Love
In the capital of digital disruption, traditional styles of bookmaking are still flourishing. See some of the Bay Area's masters of letterpress printing at work....
The King of Cake
Nono Colussi learned his trade in a bakery that has been in continuous operation since 1720. He is now a master of a culinary art that is nearly extinct: making mouth-wateringly light cake out of naturally...
The Vegetable Detective, Take Two
A California biologist found toxic levels of heavy metals in kale, got slammed for it on the internet, and then found evidence that at least one of the toxins could be even more troublesome than he had thought....
Mezcal’s Dance with Extinction
Our burly white pickup truck is rolling down the highway about 10 miles east of Oaxaca, Mexico, when the ominous dilemma that will define the future of mezcal rises into view. To my left, sitting beside me on...
The Soul of the Italian Shoe
In Venice, Italy, a city built for endless walking, a determined young woman named Daniela Ghezzo has mastered the rare art of simultaneously beautifying and comforting the human foot....
Rum’s Revenge
In Brooklyn, a former nuclear engineer borrows from the Caribbean’s traditional methods of distilling rum, reviving America’s first spirit in the process....
The Bonsai Kid
At six o’clock on a July morning, during one of the hottest stretches in northwest Oregon’s recorded history, Ryan Neil trots out the door of his hilltop home and down a short gravel path in his nursery to...
The Revival of Nero’s Wine
Throughout history vintners used clay vessels to age their wine—until the French discovered the marvels of the oak barrel. Now—for fun, for distinctly different flavors, and to save some fine old trees—a few...
The Puppeteer
Michael Montenegro is driven to put the products of his imagination into tangible, active forms. After he builds them—often in life-size form, with a rag-tag collage of materials—he becomes them, lives inside...
The Conductionist
The late Butch Morris, a figure from the outer edges of jazz, reimagined conducting as a form of composition, coining his own word for the combination of the two....
Parts & Recreation
What makes people devote hours to the frustrating task of gluing together pieces so small you have to pick them up with tweezers? And does this obsessive hobby even matter anymore? To find out, a devotee of...
Food by the Gallon
You drink eight glasses of water a day. But you consume far more through the food you eat. A special report....
The Hidden Wonders of the Musée des Arts et Métiers: Paris’ Museum of Art and Invention
A CRAFTSMANSHIP photo essay....
The Carbon Gatherer
The carbon trading market is heating up again, and a lot of people who have been figuring out ways to grab carbon dioxide out of the air are back in the game. California's John Wick may well be at the head of...
Your Salad’s Difficulty with Sustainable Farming
No matter how organic your shopping is, when you sit down to a plate of leafy greens, chances are you are supporting farming methods that contribute to global warming. There are, however, other options....
The Many Stripes of Sustainable Agriculture
Was Jared Diamond right to call agriculture the worst mistake of the human race? Industrial agriculture vastly expanded the world’s food supply, but it’s also based on a fossil fuel economy that is slowly...
The Lost Prophet of California Agriculture
Al Ruozi, age 97, is a high-school dropout whose primary invention was a machine, largely forgotten by now, that can help farmers save water, improve soil quality, and fight climate change....
A Brand New Idea for Commodity Exports
For years, a handful of enterprising grain farmers in the Midwest have been making huge strides--ecologically as well as financially--by managing to farm without plows and other invasive "tilling" machinery....
Smart Farming
As worsening droughts become the new norm, soil conservationists have begun to wonder whether we are on a path to repeat the horrors of the Dust Bowl years. The articles, books and websites highlighted here...
