Craftsmanship

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.

Michael Montenegro is driven to put the products of his imagination into tangible, active forms. After he builds them—often in life-size form, with a rag-tag collage of materials—he becomes them, lives inside them, then delivers them to us with a zany vigor.
"The Puppeteer" originally appeared in the Summer 2015 issue of 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.

Written by LORI ROTENBERK

Introduction by CHRIS EGUSA

Narrated by GÖRAN NORQUIST

Produced by CHRIS EGUSA

Music by MIKE SNOWDEN / BLUE DOT SESSIONS

When Mae Gaines moved from Los Angeles, CA, to Boise, Idaho, she expected her life would be different. What she didn't anticipate was the response when she opened Boise's first — and only — vegan soul food restaurant.

*Trigger warning: This episode contains an offensive racial slur, repeated by the interviewee as she describes a real-life incident of verbal assault. We chose to leave the word as spoken in the context of the story. The episode has been marked 'explicit' to ensure that listeners are aware of it; there is no other offensive language or adult content in this story.

This podcast is a supplement to the story, Soul Food Gets the Vegan Treatment, written by Terry Collins and published in Craftsmanship Quarterly, a multimedia online magazine focused on master 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 MELANIE EVERSLEY

Narrated by TERRY COLLINS & SHAKEEMA SMALLS, with MAE GAINES

Produced by CHRIS EGUSA

Music by MIKE SNOWDEN OF “THE CIGAR BOX GUITAR MAKER”

In the mountains of Michoacán, Mexico, a band of determined indigenous women led the overthrow of a criminal cartel. Their victory revived the town’s traditional livelihood, and ushered in a model form of self-government.

When Indigenous Women Win, written by Andrew Sullivan, originally appeared in Craftsmanship Quarterly, a multimedia online magazine about artisans, innovators, and the architecture of excellence. You can find many more stories, videos, audio recordings, and resources on our site.

Introduction by: Summer Brown
Narrated by: Goran Norquist
Produced by: Aaron Cundy