Craftsmanship

While Scotland is branded by its famous Highland bagpipes, Ireland has long made a very different kind that plays a much wider range of music. Meet the indefatigable, obsessive masters of Irish uilleann pipes.

Do the Most Interesting Musical Pipes Come from Ireland?, written by Larry Gallagher, originally appeared in Craftsmanship Quarterly, a multimedia online magazine about artisans, innovators, and the architecture of excellence. You'll find many more stories, videos, audio recordings, and other resources on our site — all free of charge and free of advertising.

Introduction by: Anh Oppenheimer

Narrated by: Mitchell Greenberg

Produced by: Larry Rosen

Music by: Mike Snowden; John Butler

With gumption, insight, and brilliant use of social media, a few guys in Virginia built an operation that makes what could be the world’s finest toolbelts. Meet "The Toolbelt Masters of Diamondback".

The Toolbelt Masters, written by Lorraine Sanders, originally appeared in Craftsmanship Quarterly, a multimedia online magazine about artisans, innovators, and the architecture of excellence. You'll find many more stories, videos, audio recordings, and other resources on our site — all free of charge and free of advertising.

Introduction by: Anh Oppenheimer

Narrated by: Nancy LeBrun

Produced by: Larry Rosen

Music by: Mike Snowden

While Japanese master craftsmen command up to $100,000 for turning bamboo into a fishing pole, aspiring younger makers can barely find anyone to take them on as apprentices. And this isn't the only time-honored Japanese craft at the brink of extinction. How could this happen in a country that, for centuries, has served as a model of handmade perfection?

Japan's Gorgeous, Precarious Fishing Poles, written by Yukari Iwatani Kane, originally appeared in Craftsmanship Quarterly, a multimedia online magazine about artisans, innovators, and the architecture of excellence. You'll find many more stories, videos, audio recordings, and other resources on our site — all free of charge and free of advertising.

Introduction by: Anh Oppenheimer

Narrated by: Nancy LeBrun

Produced by: Larry Rosen

Music by: Mike Snowden

The now iconic white guitar made famous by the Disney film, “Coco,” was created in Paracho, a small Mexican town where almost every shop makes guitars. Underneath the new icon lies centuries of craftsmanship.

Mexico's Master Guitar Makers, written by Laura Fraser, originally appeared in Craftsmanship Quarterly, a multimedia online magazine about artisans, innovators, and the architecture of excellence. You'll find many more stories, videos, audio recordings, and other resources on our site — all free of charge and free of advertising.

Introduction by: Anh Oppenheimer

Narrated by: Melissa Smith

Produced by: Larry Rosen

Music by: Mike Snowden

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 Guitar Maker, written by Nancy LeBrun, originally appeared in Craftsmanship Quarterly, a multimedia online magazine about artisans, innovators, and the architecture of excellence. You'll find many more stories, videos, audio recordings, and other resources on our site — all free of charge and free of advertising.

Introduction by: Anh Oppenheimer

Narrated by: Nancy LeBrun

Produced by: Larry Rosen

Music by: Mike Snowden, with songs by Lightnin' Hopkins, C.B. Soars, and A.J. Gaither 

On the Northeastern coast of Italy, an unusual drug treatment community uses craftsmanship to rehabilitate some of Europe’s most intractable drug addicts. San Patrignano — or "SanPa" — was founded more than 40 years ago by a hotelier who inherited a 200-hectare estate and wanted to do something about the epidemic of addiction  in nearby Rimini. He began by inviting drug addicts to his estate for Christmas, then bringing them home to live with his family. Eventually, he founded an informal, alternative medicine free clinic at their weekend farm, and from there, he began building the community.

The Healing Power of Bello, written by LAURA FRASER, originally appeared in Craftsmanship Quarterly, a multimedia online magazine about artisans, innovators, and the architecture of excellence. You'll find many more stories, videos, audio recordings, and other resources on our site — all free of charge and free of advertising.

Introduction by: Summer Brown

Narrated by: Avanthika Srinivasan

Produced by: Larry Rosen

Music by: Mike Snowden of The Cigar Box Guitar Maker.

Spiritual faith has long been shaped by the lettering on a religion’s sacred texts. This is particularly the case with Judaism, so we visited three Hebrew scribes—in Jerusalem, New York City, and the liberal enclave of Berkeley, California—to understand why such laborious traditions continue.

The Power of the Scribe, written by BRYCE T. BAUER with contributions by LYNN HOLSTEIN and TODD OPPENHEIMER, originally appeared in Craftsmanship Quarterly, a multimedia online magazine about artisans, innovators, and the architecture of excellence. You'll find many more stories, videos, audio recordings, and other resources on our site — all free of charge and free of advertising.

Introduction by: Anh Oppenheimer

Narrated by: Mitchell Greenberg

Produced by: Larry Rosen

Music by: Mike Snowden of The Cigar Box Guitar Maker.

Confined to our homes during the Covid-19 quarantine, many of us have realized this is an ideal time to start baking our own bread. The idea has spread so fast that stores are running out of flour and yeast. But fear not. Resources abound for how to make your own yeast, and even your own flour.

Artisanal Homemade Bread Made Simple, written by Todd Oppenheimer, originally appeared in Craftsmanship Quarterly, a multimedia online magazine about artisans, innovators, and the architecture of excellence. You'll find many more stories, videos, audio recordings, and other resources on our site — all free of charge and free of advertising.

Introduction by: Anh Oppenheimer

Narrated by: Todd Oppenheimer

Produced by: Larry Rosen

Music by: Mike Snowden of The Cigar Box Guitar Maker.

Everyone in the fashion world wants to find a more sustainable, environmentally friendly way to make cotton clothes — or a benign (and comfy) alternative. Some are on the brink of succeeding. But almost no one understands these innovations’ social costs.

The Human Cost of Recycled Cotton, written by Alden Wicker, originally appeared in Craftsmanship Quarterly, a multimedia online magazine about artisans, innovators, and the architecture of excellence. You'll find many more stories, videos, audio recordings, and other resources on our site — all free of charge and free of advertising.

Introduction by: Anh Oppenheimer

Narrated by: Nancy LeBrun

Produced by: Larry Rosen

Music by: Mike Snowden of The Cigar Box Guitar Maker.

Mark Sturges doesn’t advertise. Clients have to find him by word of mouth, but find him they do. He’s become a master of an agricultural art as old as agriculture itself: basic compost.

The Bug Whisperer, written by Kristin Ohlson, originally appeared in Craftsmanship Quarterly, a multimedia online magazine about artisans, innovators, and the architecture of excellence. You'll find many more stories, videos, audio recordings, and other resources on our site — all free of charge and free of advertising. 

Introduction by: Summer Brown

Narrated by: Dinah Berkeley

Produced by: Larry Rosen