Craftsmanship
Welcome to our podcast! Craftsmanship is a not-for-profit, multimedia magazine focusing on in-depth profiles of intriguing artisans and innovators across the globe — the movers and makers who are creating a world built to last. To support this project, please consider making a donation — it's tax-deductible! www.craftsmanship.net/donate
Episodes
88 episodes
"Why Choose Handmade?" with Gary Rogowski (Best of "The Secrets of Mastery," Season 1)
On this episode of "The Secrets of Mastery," we discuss the value of handmade work with master woodworker and furniture maker Gary Rogowski. The founder of the Northwest Woodworking Studio, Rogows...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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20:14
The Great Washing Machine Scam
As consumer technology improves, basic household appliances, like the washing machine, keep sprouting new, high-tech functions. Not surprisingly, they’re also increasingly difficult to repair. So our journalistic gumshoe ventured to find out: W...
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Season 6
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Episode 2
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28:19
The Cowboy Folklorist
Though he calls himself simply a “songster and storyteller,” Andy Hedges is compiling a rich, unique audio archive of cowboy music and poetry—and bringing the legends of the genre together on CD and stage.
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Season 6
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Episode 1
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15:05
Chemicals in our Clothes: A Conversation with Alden Wicker
Ever open a brand new package of clothing and get a strong whiff of chemicals? Journalist Alden Wicker took a deep dive into the chemicals in our clothes in her new book, “To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion is Making Us Sick and How We Can Fight ...
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Season 5
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Episode 10
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22:55
An Update from Craftsmanship Magazine
Our hands are deep in a new audio project - a series of interviews with master artisans and craftspeople. We’ll be talking to makers of culturally distinct crafts from around the world - about their passion, and secrets to their mastery.
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1:22
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 handmade, customized batons still ...
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Season 5
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Episode 9
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12:57
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."The Cigar Box Guit...
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Season 5
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Episode 8
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19:41
The Return of the Harmonica
When 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 won.
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Season 5
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Episode 7
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34:07
The Agony and Ecstasy of an Oboe Reed Maker
Oboists can spend more time making reeds for their instrument than playing their music. One such musician, the comic monologist Josh Kornbluth, has a lot to say about reed making's painfully exacting process.
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Season 5
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Episode 6
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31:32
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."The Conductionist"...
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Season 5
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Episode 6
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15:46
The Play Gap
In the inner city neighborhoods of Providence, Rhode Island, Janice O'Donnell set up playgrounds where kids could build anything they want, and break anything they want. She has been stunned by what everyone has learned in the process.<...
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Season 5
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Episode 5
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13:15
What? A Bamboo Bicycle?
A bicycle made of bamboo might look a little silly—brown and fat, with swollen joints. But Craig Calfee, a respected pioneer of carbon fiber bicycle frames, swears by their strength, flexibility, and ecological value.
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Season 5
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Episode 4
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12:24
The Antidote to Fast Fashion? System Dressing
Jill Giordano makes women’s clothing with fine fabrics in timeless styles, and in combinations that can be mixed and matched in multiple ways. The goal: Improve your look, save the planet, and save money.
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Season 5
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Episode 3
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22:14
Can Japan’s Akiya Movement Rebuild Rural Communities?
In Japan, an aging population, declining birthrate, and a concentrating of jobs in the major cities, has left rural areas across the Japanese countryside littered with abandoned houses—known as akiya, or “empty homes.” Now, a movement is on the...
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Season 5
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Episode 2
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10:44
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 world’s most beautiful “pedal stee...
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Season 4
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Episode 26
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33:57
The Rise and Fall of Toy Theatre
In 19th century England, miniature theatrical productions were all the rage. And they weren’t just for kids — children and adults alike collected intricately printed paper cutouts of their favorite theater actors, along with the theaters in whi...
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Season 4
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Episode 25
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16:40
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 late, great Massimo Vignelli....
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Season 4
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Episode 24
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7:16
A Conversation with Guest Editor RoseMary Diaz
Our Fall 2022 guest editor, RoseMary Diaz, talks with Craftsmanship Quarterly's managing editor, Laurie Weed, about growing up "half-Indian" in Northern New Mexico; the surprising controversy around "art" vs. "craft;" and the story behind the s...
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Season 4
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Episode 23
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26:21
The Value of Time
When an American made, quartz watch costs up to $1,500, and its counterparts from other countries, including Switzerland, range from $50 to more than $50,000, what’s the difference between them?
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Season 4
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Episode 22
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7:28
The Clay Conjurer
Felipe Ortega was known for his controversial opinions on culture, as well as his expertise with an unusual form of pottery. He devoted his life to bucking tradition, in more ways than one.Editor’s Note: This story has been updated ...
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Season 4
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Episode 21
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40:01
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 them, then delivers them to us with...
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Season 4
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Episode 20
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20:09
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?"Shri...
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Season 4
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Episode 17
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12:18
Jack Mauch: A New Renaissance Man
Eager to begin his life's work as a craftsman, Jack Mauch left high school at age 16, preferring to carve out his own path. By the time he hit his early 30s, he was already creating breathtaking examples of craftsmanship, in everything from fur...
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Season 4
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Episode 19
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14:10
The Revival of Nero’s Wine
Throughout history, wine had always been aged in clay vessels. That’s just how it was done. But when French vintners discovered the marvels of aging wine in oak barrels, it was a total game changer. The flavors oak brought out in the wine set o...
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Season 4
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Episode 18
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20:01
