Ways of Making — perhaps

COLLECTION By Andrea Gough

Ways of Making: Six Views on Craft and Tradition

Tradition can be a fraught concept these days, used by politicians and tradwives alike to evoke some monolithic, perfect bygone era when everything was in harmony. But far from making tradition a cudgel of conformity, makers, crafters, and creators know that the traditions their work is grounded in are indispensable — especially in a society increasingly hell-bent on creating AI art and manufacturing disposable goods. How did patterns and techniques evolve, in response to which stimuli, connected to which places? How do those connections enrich contemporary practices, grounding us even as we innovate?

Andrea Gough, Color Study #3, 2024. Bargello “pomegranate” stitch, wool on canvas.

Andrea Gough, Color Study #2, 2024. Bargello “flame” stitch, wool on canvas.

Andrea Gough, Untitled, 2024. Bargello “flame” stitch variation, wool on canvas.

The authors of these books tackle these questions through different lenses. Like them, I’ve been on my own lifelong journey through craft, from finding community through knitting at college and beyond, to learning to weave in the Bolivian highlands. More recently I’ve gone on a deep dive into Bargello, a style of embroidery distinguished by its focus on repeated geometric motifs and named after fabric found on seventeenth-century Italian shoes and furniture upholstery. This type of needlework saw a revival in the 1970s, and now a second contemporary revival. I’ve loved exploring the evolution of classic stitch patterns and their pairing with modern bright color palettes (acrylic yarn in the 70s, artisanally-dyed yarn today), even as I rely on Margaret Boyles’s 1974 book, Bargello: An Explosion in Color, when making my own patterns. How lucky I am to explore crafts with such depth of history and to follow along as others document the variety of ways of making.

Water, Wood & Wild Things: Learning Craft and Cultivation in a Japanese Mountain Town

by Hannah Kirshner

After forming a friendship with the owner of a bar in Japan, Kirshner immersed herself in Yamanaka, a remote town in Japan’s Ishikawa prefecture. Over four years, she delved into the myriad industries and cultural traditions rooted there, from saké making and serving, to lacquer making and painting, woodworking, traditional methods of hunting, charcoal making, and much more. In doing so, she explored how a specific place deeply influences the items created there, the customs that develop, and how they feed and support one another. For example, at one point the author tastes various sakés in different, locally made bowls, each combination subtly impacting the flavor of the saké. The result is an enthralling portrait of a place enriched by its artisanal history and the contemporary artists continuing that work. (Penguin Books, 2022)

This Long Thread: Women of Color on Craft, Community, and Connection

by Jen Hewett

Professional artist and designer Hewett noticed that many organized craft spaces (retreats, guilds, craft fairs, online spaces) were overwhelmingly white. So she sought out BIPOC women and nonbinary creators of textile arts and crafts, diving deeply into questions of how and why they learned different skills and how their creative practices connect them to their families and communities. Through survey responses, in-depth interviews, and commissioned essays, this collection presents a compelling and beautifully varied tapestry exploring the perspectives and experiences of women of color across the fiber arts community. From a seventh-generation Navajo rug weaver, to the founder of the Modern Quilt Guild, to artists who combine activism and craft, there’s a tremendous variety and depth of voices represented. (Roost Books, 2021)

Almost Lost Arts: Traditional Crafts and the Artisans Keeping Them Alive

by Emily Freidenrich

This beautifully produced work highlights 25 artisans keeping traditional ways of creating alive: weavers and watchmakers, bronze and plaster casters, mapmakers and neon sign makers, and many more. Interviews reveal the artists’ paths and philosophies, while gorgeous photography shows the artists at work, with photos of their workspaces, materials, and final products — an element absent in other books in this collection. Two essays highlight the continuation of knowledge, from Harvard’s pigment collection to making calligraphy a living art. There’s a joy to reading about the deep skill involved in these arts, while witnessing both the preservation of knowledge and practice, as well as the creation of beautiful and interesting work. (Chronicle Books, 2019)

A Short History of
Black Craft in Ten Objects

by Robell Awake

Awake, a chairmaker and teacher, illuminates the skill and history of Black craftspeople through an examination of ten objects and the people who made them: from the more well-known, such as the quilters of Gee’s Bend and South Carolina’s Gullah sweetgrass basket makers, to the perhaps lesser-known, such as the Haitian architectural innovation that brought the front porch to Louisiana, or Tennessee chairmaker Richard Poynor’s refinement of the ladder-back chair. It’s a history obfuscated by slavery and written record-keeping that intentionally anonymized individual artisans and their innovations. What Awake does is, in part, a reclamation of credit, such as in the chapter where he describes a chest of drawers attributed to a white furniture maker in early 1800s South Carolina; when the piece was purchased in 2016, a penciled-in name was found, likely the free Black maker who worked in the shop and made the piece. From there, Awake discusses two other Black cabinetmakers of the time. This is a short, accessible work that draws on thorough research, a chronicle of some of the ways Black people have carried knowledge and skill through enslavement, passing on both knowledge and a spirit of innovation. (Princeton Architectural Press, 2025)

Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive

by Eliot Stein

As a BBC writer, Stein’s background as a travel reporter is evident in this lovely tour of ten people preserving cultural customs. Stein casts a wide net, not only chronicling areas perhaps easily categorized as traditional craft (making pasta, hand-painting film posters, building a bridge from woven grass) but also taking a wider view with things like oral storytelling, or the tradition of the nightwatchman atop the medieval church tower in Ystad, Sweden. It’s a work in which Stein follows his own sense of curiosity and wonder. By highlighting forms of resistance to the smoothing out or homogenization of local eccentricities, he counters the flattening of experience that can be a byproduct of internationalization. (St. Martin’s Press, 2024)

American Flannel: How a Band of Entrepreneurs Are Bringing the Art and Business of Making Clothes Back Home

by Steven Kurutz

Many of the crafts discussed by other books were once industries, before automation, industrialization, and international trade agreements drove them into a “heritage” distinction. In American Flannel, Kurutz asks: What does it mean for a country to lose the ability to make their own clothing, and what would it take to bring it back? Kurutz, a reporter for The New York Times, looks at the different elements in the process of making clothing (design, production of cloth, cutting and sewing, etc), the history of those industries in the United States, and how they were displaced in the last 30–50 years. He also profiles two companies determined to make clothing in the United States: American Giant founder Bayard Winthrop became fixated on crafting entirely made-in-America clothing from beginning to end; and Gina Locklear of Zkano is still making socks in Fort Payne, Alabama, once the “sock capital of the world.” It’s a fascinating look at what we lose when we lose the ability to make — on both a large and small scale — and how difficult it can be to regain expertise once lost. (Riverhead Books, 2024)

Andrea Gough is a librarian and crafter in Seattle, WA.