Artisanal traditions, maker culture, and the handmade.
Showing 21–40 of 167 articles
Adam Bowett, one of Britain's leading furniture historians and practising restorer, can determine a chair's approximate date of manufacture within a decade by examining its joinery alone, without reference to style, timber, or surface finish.
Marcus Wei · 2025-01-27
At John Lobb's workshop on St James's Street in London, a lastmaker carves a block of beech or hornbeam into a three-dimensional model of a client's foot that will serve as the foundation for every pair of bespoke shoes that client orders for life.
Catherine Avery · 2025-01-26
The Chatham Historic Dockyard's ropewalk, operational since 1740, is one of the few places in the world where rope is still made using the same layout and technique employed to supply Nelson's navy.
Marcus Wei · 2025-01-26
Mark Harrell, a retired aerospace engineer from Phoenix, Arizona, founded Bad Axe Tool Works in 2008 with the ambition of building the finest handsaws available.
Catherine Avery · 2025-01-25
In fine woodworking, construction may consume eighty percent of build time, but the finishing determines ninety percent of how the piece is perceived.
Thomas Nakamura · 2025-01-25
When Loewe appointed Jonathan Anderson as creative director in 2013, one of his first acts was to open the Spanish leather house's archive of patterns, techniques, and materials to a new generation of artisans.
Thomas Nakamura · 2025-01-24
When Coventry Cathedral was destroyed by German bombers on 14 November 1940, the ruins were left standing as a memorial.
Thomas Nakamura · 2025-01-24
The pendant you commission from a contemporary jeweller in Hatton Garden is produced by essentially the same process Egyptian goldsmiths used for Tutankhamun.
James Alderton · 2025-01-23
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Marcus Wei · 2025-01-23
The Japanese hand plane, or kanna, pulls rather than pushes, uses a laminated blade of carbon steel and soft iron, and is adjusted by tapping rather than turning a mechanism.
Thomas Nakamura · 2025-01-22
At Dents, the Somerset glovemaker established in 1777, a cutter positions a razor-sharp die over Ethiopian hair sheep leather and presses it through the skin with a single motion.
Marcus Wei · 2025-01-22
A properly thatched roof of Norfolk reed, installed by a master thatcher to traditional specifications, will last between fifty and sixty years, outperforming most modern roofing materials in both longevity and insulation value.
Sebastian Cole · 2025-01-21
A pair of Church's Grafton brogues, first purchased in 1978, has been resoled eleven times by the same cobbler, James Miller of Edinburgh.
Catherine Avery · 2025-01-21
Sitka spruce and European spruce are the dominant species for guitar and violin tops not because of tradition alone but because their acoustic properties are measurable and superior.
Daniel Hurst · 2025-01-20
Geoffrey Preston, one of Britain's foremost decorative plasterers, has executed ornamental plasterwork for Chatsworth House, Kensington Palace, and numerous National Trust properties.
Thomas Nakamura · 2025-01-20
Taylor's Eye Witness, founded in Sheffield in 1838, continues to produce knives and blades from a factory in the city's Stainless Quarter, the district that gave the English language the word cutlery.
Daniel Hurst · 2025-01-19
Micro-goldsmith Elizabeth Galton specialises in work so small that finished pieces must be viewed through a loupe to appreciate their detail.
Marcus Wei · 2025-01-19
When Sierra Nevada Brewing Company released its Pale Ale in 1980, founder Ken Grossman was not inventing a new style but reviving a British one.
Daniel Hurst · 2025-01-18
In the fishing port of Essaouira, Morocco, master boatbuilder Mohamed Guennoune constructs wooden fishing boats without drawings, templates, or written measurements.
Thomas Nakamura · 2025-01-18
When Forsyths of Rothes, Scotland's pre-eminent still maker since 1932, begins fabricating a pot still, the first critical decision is copper selection.
Daniel Hurst · 2025-01-17