A Celebration of Craft

...w Crawford, an antidote to our culture’s narcissism. Crawford says, in his book Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work, The moral significance of work that grapples with material things may lie in the simple fact that such things lie outside the self. A washing machine, for example, surely exists to serve our needs, but in contending with one that is broken, you have to ask what it needs. At such a moment, technology is no long...

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Swedish Death Cleaning

...s clutter, that you leave behind for others to deal with. The article goes on to describe Margareta Magnusson, the doyen of Swedish death cleaning, as Marie Kondo with a dose of momento mori. Not having read Magnusson’s book, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, I can’t comment on the method’s effectiveness, but its clear that both Magnusson and Kondo are addressing a universal problem of our consumer culture: too much stuff....

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Hidey Holes and Hooch Hounds

...clever hacks from the 1920s: “I’m just carrying a load of bricks officer.” Too bad everyone listens to mp3s these days. Then there’s the flask, small and . . . party sized. Should you wish to make your own secret hiding places there’s a book by Charles Robinson The Construction of Secret Hiding Places that you can download for free. There’s also an Instructable showing how to turn a spray paint can into a hidden safe. Alas, none of these ideas wi...

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Saturday Tweets: Muting, RIP Hygge and an Owl

...bikesnobnyc) January 6, 2018 Excited to share the video trailer for my new book “The Less is More Garden: Big Ideas for Designing Your Small Yard,” out February 7! pic.twitter.com/0Z08hNObfD — Susan Morrison (@susanlmorrison) January 5, 2018 Bellows and Turbine. Laser-cut & Paper project to download and make.#papertoy#lasercut#maker#bellowshttps://t.co/y1xBIxb7C2 pic.twitter.com/VT6BVLZFVv — ✄—Rob–Ives— (@robives) January 1, 2018 Shima – Ise Lands...

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115 Inventing a New Word: Apisoir

...irst on Root Simple! During the podcast Michael mentions: Rowan Jacobsen’s book American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields “Merroir“ Bee Local Honey Planet Bee You can reach Michael via his Facebook page and his email is michaelalberty@gmx.com. Apisoir, apisoir, apisoir! If you’d like to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to rootsimple@gmail.com. You can subscribe t...

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