Hi, I’m Joe, and Craft & Culture (C&C) is my project to explore the role and significance of craft and meaning in the age of AI. As the project develops, you’ll find my own reflections here as well as conversations with artisans and makers at the apex of their disciplines as well as people with skin in the game.
The foundation for C&C was laid almost eight years ago when I first commissioned bespoke tailoring. Admittedly, I wanted to achieve a certain look, and I had been interested in fashion off and on since high school. At the time I was on a Fulbright grant in Rome and Florence for graduate research on the late Italian Renaissance, so Naples, my sartorial Mecca, was a short trip away. What I found on those early trips, however, was not merely clothing, but another universe, an alternate civilization, a different mode of being in the world that challenged the impersonal, bureaucratic, often dull system I knew from my academic pursuits.
That may sound somewhat lofty, but this little sartorial quest served up a heady cocktail of aesthetics, an alternate view of labor, and a living sense of the past. One sip, and I needed more. Over time, my tailors and other makers became my friends. You can’t help but relate to your clothes differently when you know the names and faces of the people who measured, cut, and stitched a garment together for hours and hours, a garment that fits only you and makes you look your best.
For as long as I can remember, brands have received most of the public’s attention, while few have heard from the artisans themselves. For me clothes may have been the starting point, but the “craft question” extends beyond to countless fields: perfumery, leatherwork, eyewear, jewelry, furniture, etc and, by analogy, to writing, art, food, and so on. And I’ll be having conversations with artisans from these disciplines and more as time goes on.
Having these conversations now is crucial, as AI begins to transform the economy ,and we commonly hear of a utopian future where everyone will have time to pursue artistic interests, freed from slavish labor by the wonders of technology. But time doesn’t equal desire or volition. Simultaneously, however, our own country and the West in general are mostly interested in having the most possible at the lowest price, a dream dependent on industrial manufacturing, automation, and a certain geopolitical status quo. Meanwhile, craftsmanship has become a hashtag and empty marketing tool, both exploited by capitalist interests and deplored by Marxist critics who regard beautiful things as commodified playthings of the rich.
I have a preliminary view of craft’s state of affairs, but my approach here is to listen to the artisans themselves and hear how they view the present and future of their crafts, their role in culture and history, and the relation of artisanal production and technology. I’m looking forward to being challenged and surprised! I already have been in recent conversations and think you’ll be too.
We’ll launch with three episodes: the wonderful bespoke shoemaker, Pierre Corthay; the Neapolitan shirtmaker, Luca Avitabile; and the Brooklyn-based maker of jeans, Eric Steffen. Afterward, we’ll publish two episodes per month. I have to thank the many artisans who’ve participated thus far, encouraged me in this project, and entrusted me with telling the story of craft today. Thanks are due as well to the friends who have encouraged and goaded me on, some for years, others for months. We’re finally at launch.
Thank you, as well, for reading this far, and I hope you’ll join me on this adventure. Your comments, questions, and suggestions for topics and conversations are welcome! My friends know I’ve talked about this project long enough—now is the time to start.