Explore the World of the Human Spirit. Passion, Ingenuity and Skill.
Editor’s Picks
Silver & Gold
These precious metals have been part of the lexicon of jewelers since humans mastered blacksmithing, thousands of years ago.
RAPHAEL SANZIO PENDANT
by Roberta and David Williamson.
Features and Departments
Prescott Trading Post and Bead Museum Volume 44.1
Robert K. Liu describes how Thomas Stricker fulfilled a lifelong dream of opening a bead museum and trading post, to display perhaps the largest extant bead collection and related artifacts, especially from Northwest Africa.
Samunnat Volume 43.4
Leslie Clark delves into the Nepali organization Samunnat, which helps abused women to earn a living through education and self-empowerment.
Smithsonian Craft Show 2023 Volume 43.4
Patrick R. Benesh-Liu reminisces on this year’s Smithsonian Craft Show, which made a triumphant return in-person in 2022.
Felting a Life Volume 33.3
Ruth E. Wiedenhoeft Walker explores her journey with felting.
Queerphoria Volume 43.3
These jewelrymakers share how their identity, often paired with difficult experiences, gives them great joy.
Portable Universe Volume 43.3
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art recently held a landmark exhibition on precolumbian Colombia, with an emphasis on their gold jewelry.
Dressed by Nature Volume 43.2
Delve into this extraordinary exhibition of Japanese folk clothing, as well as examples of Ainu dress and other native peoples of Japan at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts.
Deb Karash Volume 43.2
A new multimedia exhibition by jeweler Deb Karash pairs brooches decorated by the use of colored pencils with her painted canvases.
Sporting Fashion Volume 43.1
As part of a touring exhibition organized by the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, this remarkable collection illustrates how women’s clothing has evolved in the past two hundred years.
Shuoyuan Bai Volume 43.1
The quiet and conscious aesthetic of Chinese jeweler Shuoyuan Bai, born in China but taught in America, is revealed in this article.
Craft in America with Harriete Estel Berman
The Process of Becoming 42.4
Craft in America Jewelry Episode 42.4
Early Roman Mosaic Face Beads 42.4
Iris Apfel Volume 42.3
Iris Apfel’s flamboyant and bold sense of style has made her the standard bearer for individual expression.
Philadelphia Craft Show 2021 Volume 42.3
This leading craft show gets back in-person for November 2021, giving us pause to reflect on the connections that these events help foster.
Small Wonders
The Heard Museum’s exhibition, “Small Wonders,” showcases vintage and contemporary Native American jewelry and small objects.
Breton Shirts
Ornament reviews the history of the Breton shirt, worn by French sailors and others in the maritime trade, but transformed over the years from utilitarian garment to bold fashion identity.
Crafting Excellence: The Windgate Fellowship
The Windgate Fellowship is a grant for college seniors in the crafts, which gives recipients the opportunity to develop their careers in this field.
Amy Nguyen
Amy Nguyen’s intensive study of the Japanese dyeing technique of shibori has allowed her to develop a distinctive style that merges East and West.
Please note that these articles have been reformatted for web viewing. To read the full article as it was intended, purchase the magazine or article PDF.
Best of
Wearable Artists
As the 60s and 70s, the heyday of wearable art as a new medium, fade into the past, contemporary wearable art has become more refined, minimalistic, and influenced by fashion. This divergence has seen some of the spiritual successors to wearable art branch off into popular culture, such as Burning Man, cosplay, and fursuiting.
JACKET by K. Riley, of hand-carved blockprinted fabric, 2019.
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Robert K. Liu provides a comparison between the ancient and the modern craftsperson, using his own personal experience in making as a reference, as well as ancient examples of crafts.