The Craft of Community - Part Two | Craftsmanship Magazine Skip to content

The Craft of Community - Part Two

In our second look at The Craft of Community, we explore how worker-owned co-ops can combat income inequality. We also bring back a story from our Archives about an initiative to rebuild trust between today’s hyper-polarized political camps. Then we end with three delightful tales about remarkable artisans, and why craftsmanship matters.

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 Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, Ohio. Both operations keep proving that, during economic crises, co-ops adapt better than traditional companies, and they continue paying their workers more equitably as well. Why don’t more businesses follow “the Mondragon model”?

By ROBERTO LOVATO

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 attack on the U.S. Capitol—you get an unmistakable message: We don’t know how to talk with each other anymore, let alone build common ground. An expert in linguistics explores our new argumentative culture to find ways to revive the craft of conversation, so that Americans of different beliefs can start believing in each other again.

By MICHAEL ERARD

Other Topics In This Theme

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 collaboration with The Centre for Global Heritage and Development.

Written by TODD OPPENHEIMER

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 is to love about classic, old bikes. Among the simplest of the pack are the Japanese motorcycles of the 1970s, particularly the Hondas. They’re also among the most loved, and that’s exactly what keeps Dave Stefani in business.

Story by OWEN EDWARDS
Photography by PETER BELANGER and ELI MIKITEN

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, small-scale perfume artists are bottling a world of intoxicating new scents. Some seem to give new meaning to the concept of time travel.

By BARBARA TANNENBAUM

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