Why the Best Tool Handles Are Still Made from Hickory
When the head of a framing hammer strikes a nail with sixty pounds of force, the handle must absorb the shock without transmitting it destructively to the user's wrist.
2025-01-04
SC
Sebastian Cole
114 articles
Showing 61–80 of 114 articles
The Foundry Casting Bronze Fittings for Wooden Sailboats
At the Lunenburg Foundry in Nova Scotia, Canada, bronze fittings for wooden sailboats have been cast using methods that have not fundamentally changed since the yard began supplying the Grand Banks fishing fleet in 1891.
2025-01-04
The Science of Lacquer and Why the Finish Matters as Much as the Form
Urushi, the sap of the Toxicodendron vernicifluum tree native to East Asia, is the most durable natural finish known to science.
2024-12-31
How Oak Is Selected, Aged, and Split for Fine Cabinetry
The finest English brown oak begins its journey to a cabinet maker's workshop while still standing in the forest.
2024-12-30
Waxed Cotton: From North Sea Fishermen to Fashion Houses
In the early nineteenth century, Scottish fishermen discovered that rubbing their cotton sails with linseed oil rendered them waterproof enough to shed North Sea spray.
2024-12-29
The Revival of Terrazzo and Its Ancient Origins
Terrazzo, the composite flooring of marble or stone chips set in a binder and ground to a polished surface, has experienced remarkable revival after decades of institutional association.
2024-12-17
Why Bespoke Tailoring Takes 80 Hours of Handwork
A bespoke suit from Savile Row requires between fifty and eighty hours of hand labour across cutter, coat maker, trouser maker, and finishers.
2024-12-10
How a Proper Leather Sole Is Made
At the Rendenbach tannery in Trier, Germany, cowhides are tanned in oak bark extract pits for fourteen months.
2024-12-09
The Last Hatmakers of the Western World
At Lock and Co.
2024-12-06
The Revival of American-Made Workwear
In the 1990s, American workwear manufacturing appeared terminal.
2024-12-04
Why the Best Wool Still Comes from Specific Farms
The Saxon Merino sheep of Tasmania's Midlands produce fleece averaging fifteen microns, among the world's finest.
2024-12-03
The Architecture of Lisbon's Tiled Facades
Lisbon is the only European capital where azulejos, hand-painted ceramic tiles, cover entire building facades from pavement to roofline.
2024-11-29
The Cultural Significance of the Corner Barbershop
Truefitt and Hill, established on Old Bond Street in London in 1805, holds a Royal Warrant and has groomed every British monarch since George III.
2024-11-14
How Cinema Taught a Generation of Men to Cry
When the horse Artax sinks into the Swamp of Sadness in The NeverEnding Story, a generation of boys born in the late 1970s learned that grief could arrive without warning.
2024-11-13
The Playwrights Who Write for Audiences of Fifty
At the Finborough Theatre in Earl's Court, London, the audience capacity is fifty.
2024-11-09
The Philosophy Hidden in Japanese Garden Design
The dry landscape garden at Ryoan-ji in Kyoto consists of fifteen stones arranged on raked white gravel within a walled rectangle.
2024-11-08
How Punk Rock Became the Unlikely Grandfather of Minimalism
When the Ramones played their first show at CBGB on August 16, 1974, each song lasted roughly two minutes and used no more than four chords.
2024-11-07
The Design Principles Behind the World's Best Signage
When Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda redesigned the New York City subway signage system in 1966, they replaced a chaotic patchwork of hand-painted signs with a unified system using Helvetica, consistent colour coding, and clear directional logic.
2024-11-06
What Cave Paintings Tell Us About the Impulse to Create
In September 1940, four teenagers stumbled into the Lascaux cave in the Dordogne region of France.
2024-11-05
Why Every City Needs a Cinema That Shows Old Films
The Metrograph on Ludlow Street in Manhattan opened in 2016 with a 35mm print of Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love.
2024-11-02