Craft

Artisanal traditions, maker culture, and the handmade.

Showing 2140 of 167 articles

Why the Best Chisels Are Hollow-Ground, Not Flat
Craft

Why the Best Chisels Are Hollow-Ground, Not Flat

A chisel sharpened with a hollow-ground bevel, the concave profile left by a grinding wheel, outperforms a flat-ground chisel in the critical operation of paring: controlled removal of thin shavings.

Thomas Nakamura · 2026-06-02

The Welder Whose Sculptures Start as Structural Engineering
Craft

The Welder Whose Sculptures Start as Structural Engineering

Richard Serra, whose monumental steel sculptures weigh hundreds of tons and curve through public spaces worldwide, trained not in sculpture but in steelworking.

Marcus Wei · 2026-06-02

How Traditional Gilding Techniques Survive in a World of Gold Paint
Craft

How Traditional Gilding Techniques Survive in a World of Gold Paint

Gold paint, the aerosol-sprayed substitute adorning picture frames in every homeware shop, is not gold.

Catherine Avery · 2026-06-02

Why Certain Woods Sing and Others Stay Silent
Craft

Why Certain Woods Sing and Others Stay Silent

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 · 2026-06-01

The Master Plasterer Whose Ceilings Hang in Stately Homes
Craft

The Master Plasterer Whose Ceilings Hang in Stately Homes

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 · 2026-06-01

How Traditional Thatching Techniques Outperform Modern Roofing
Craft

How Traditional Thatching Techniques Outperform Modern Roofing

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 · 2026-06-01

The Cobbler Who Resoled the Same Pair of Boots Eleven Times
Craft

The Cobbler Who Resoled the Same Pair of Boots Eleven Times

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 · 2026-06-01

What Makes Japanese Hand Planes Superior to Their Western Counterparts
Craft

What Makes Japanese Hand Planes Superior to Their Western Counterparts

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 · 2026-06-01

The Glovemaker Cutting Leather to a Tolerance of Half a Millimetre
Craft

The Glovemaker Cutting Leather to a Tolerance of Half a Millimetre

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 · 2026-06-01

How Lost-Wax Casting Connects Modern Jewellers to Ancient Egypt
Craft

How Lost-Wax Casting Connects Modern Jewellers to Ancient Egypt

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 · 2026-06-01

The Brush Maker Whose Bristles Come from a Single Province in China
Craft

The Brush Maker Whose Bristles Come from a Single Province in China

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Marcus Wei · 2026-06-01

What Happens When a Heritage Brand Opens Its Archive to Young Designers
Craft

What Happens When a Heritage Brand Opens Its Archive to Young Designers

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 · 2026-06-01

The Sandstone Quarry That Rebuilt a Bombed Cathedral
Craft

The Sandstone Quarry That Rebuilt a Bombed Cathedral

When Coventry Cathedral was destroyed by German bombers on 14 November 1940, the ruins were left standing as a memorial.

Thomas Nakamura · 2026-06-01

How a Retired Engineer Built the World's Most Precise Handsaw
Craft

How a Retired Engineer Built the World's Most Precise Handsaw

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 · 2026-06-01

The Art of Finishing: What Happens After the Last Cut
Craft

The Art of Finishing: What Happens After the Last Cut

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 · 2026-06-01

The Weavers of Harris Tweed and the Island That Defines Their Cloth
Craft

The Weavers of Harris Tweed and the Island That Defines Their Cloth

Harris Tweed is the only commercially produced fabric in the world protected by an Act of Parliament.

Sebastian Cole · 2026-05-31

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