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Cut the Craft

Amy Umbel and Brien Beidler

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Have you ever looked at potters smiling from their booth at the farmers’ market and wondered: “what’s their deal?” Have you ever considered whose hands are behind the wooden chair you're sitting on? How about those fancy kitchen knives you admire? Cut the Craft is a podcast that brings stories of handcraft and its makers to you. Perhaps you are a craftsperson looking for a fresh perspective, or a newcomer to handmade things; no matter your starting point, your hosts Amy Umbel and Brien Beidl ...
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Recorded June 6, 2023. William Deresiewicz is a non-fiction writer whose work includes The End of Solitude, Excellent Sheep, and A Jane Austin Education. In this episode he speaks with us about his book The Death of the Artist: How Creators are Struggling to Survive in the age of Billionaires and Big Tech. Over the course of our conversation Bill g…
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Recorded May 8, 2023. Kyle Tallio, from Nuxalk and Hailzaqu Nations, makes Northwest Coast Art primarily out of Prince Rupert in Canada. Kyle focuses primarily on wood carvings that are used traditionally: masks, spoons, bowls, and boxes. He comes from a family of artists and started out his creative pursuits in two dimensional work. As his carving…
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Recorded April 18, 2023. Addison de Lisle is a metalsmith who primarily focuses on non-ferrous metals but with a very eclectic range of forms. Within his breadth of interests, Addison makes an effort to set himself a few parameters; his work is metal, should at least hint at utility, and shouldn’t shy away from conceptual ideas. In other words, he’…
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Recorded March 20, 2023. Kathryn Sullivan is a woodworker who focuses on restoration and conservation. Over the course of our conversation Kathryn highlights the importance of communication with their clients. Learning more about what a piece will be used for and the client's motivation for Kathryn's services informs how they will approach the rest…
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Recorded March 13, 2023. Robell Awake is a furniture maker based in Atlanta Georgia. He has a background in the trades, but has dedicated his current efforts in ladderback chair making and green woodworking. Along with making the furniture itself, Robell has researched the true origins of the Poynor chair; a mule-eared, curve-backed ladderback chai…
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Recorded February 6, 2023. Gabriela Marván is a cartonera living and working in Wisconsin. Cartonería is a paper sculpture technique that has roots in the beginning of colonialism in Mexico. The Catholic Church used sculptures to communicate its doctrine with indigenous people but now the technique is used during celebrations and folk art of all ki…
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Recorded January 2, 2023. French bookbinder Louise Bescond is couched within the multifaceted world of bookbinding. She describes her niche as bookbinding “haute couture,” but despite her exacting eye, she acknowledges the moving bar of perfection in her professional life. Admittedly not a bookbinding historian, Louise gives us a sense of the histo…
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Recorded December 12, 2022. Letterpress printer and designer Ben Blount believes in the power of the printed word. He uses design as a way to communicate, motivate, tell stories, and record histories. He uses the printed word as a vehicle for conversations ranging from race and identity to stories we tell ourselves. Ben loves to highlight nuance an…
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Recorded November 7, 2022. Jögge Sundqvist is a slöjdaire from Umeå Sweden. As a multi-talented woodworker he’s made everything ranging from butter knives to theater entrances. During this episode, Jögge helps us clear up the definition of slöjd and its cultural roots. Technically speaking the word means being “clever in your hands”, but Jögge also…
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Recorded September 19, 2022. Dr. Esra Alhamal creates illuminated paintings and works out of England. In this episode, she clears up the language surrounding biomorphic patterns and the western idea of Islamic Art. Instead, Esra promotes the Arabic word Nabati; meaning “from plant” to describe the organic curvy patterns she uses to create illuminat…
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Recorded July 25, 2022. Ceramic artist David “Swen” Swenson creates his utilitarian wares in Clearwater, Minnesota. His work is a cacophony of design elements and motifs that fit together like quilt pieces. Swen draws inspiration from a variety of places, from ancient pottery in museums to art history, but always manages to work his own narrative i…
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Recorded April 25, 2022. Episode contains some language. Textile Artist and surface designer Aliyah Salmon has had a recent breakthrough with her large hand-tufted wall hangings. The opportunity came quickly to start working with tufting during the pandemic and she’s taken the opportunity in stride as she builds her work and creates larger contempo…
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Recorded May 2, 2022. Bladesmith Andrew Meers focuses his creative practice on making a variety of knives. Most of his knives are heavily embellished art and are not strictly utilitarian. Conversely, he also sometimes makes batches of kitchen knives. Andrew often incorporates story and narrative themes to his work, especially in his decorative inla…
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Recorded April 18, 2022. Soapmaker Andrea Davis is the owner of Motherland Essentials in South Carolina. She focuses on cold process soapmaking and loves the interplay between art and science that soapmaking allows. During our interview she guides us along her path into soapmaking: from a traumatizing situation in the corporate world to how she rel…
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Recorded March 28, 2022. Blacksmith Caitlin Morris is the founder of Ms. Caitlin’s School of Blacksmithing in Frederick, Maryland, and “is dedicated to sharing the craft with as many unsuspecting people as possible!” Caitlin is a dedicated teacher who learned the perils and triumphs associated with learning when she first started her craft. As a sm…
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Recorded April 4, 2022. Ceramicist Makeda Smith took a leap of faith during 2020 to start her own business. She had dabbled in ceramics in college, but when a friend saw her talent and encouraged her to take her creative side more seriously, she decided to accept the challenge. The acknowledgement and support she received from her community culmina…
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Episode Recorded February 28, 2022. Jesse Merrill is a craft baker and greenwood worker/turner from Ontario Canada. He has his feet in two areas of craft. Running Polestar Hearth Bakery supports his family through the planned obsolescence of bread baking which gives him room to delve heart first into green woodworking and turning. During this conve…
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Episode Recorded February 21, 2022. Eleanor Rose is a craft-based sculpture artist, and toolmaker currently based in Pennsylvania. During our conversation, she shares how she started making tools; she didn’t have access to what she needed during her undergraduate studies, so she made them herself! Our candid conversation floats in and out of the un…
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Episode Recorded February 7, 2022. Mikko Snellman specializes in knot tying and ropemaking and comes from a long line of sailors in Finland. During our conversation, he shares the important place cordage has in human history and how it helps us today. Personally, he grew up tying knots and was familiar with ropework from sailing with his father, bu…
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Episode Recorded February 2, 2022. Gabriel Frey is a 13th generation Wabanaki basketmaker from the Dawnland. During our conversation Gabriel shares the importance of indigenous land stewardship and the role basket weaving has as a vehicle for cultural transmission. He shares the historical importance basket weaving has in preserving indigenous agen…
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Episode Recorded February 1, 2022. Sreeraghavi Mani is a textile origamist working out of New Jersey who has a background in design and textiles. She talks about how she has shifted her perspective from an industrial model to a personal relationship with craft. During the lockdowns, she recognized the meditative process of handcraft flowing through…
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Episode Recorded November 22, 2021. Reid Schwartz is a knife maker from rural New Hampshire and throughout his career as a hand-tool maker, he has settled into a solid understanding of why he is making tools and the feedback loops he is involved in as a ‘one-person’ scaled business. He’s become more and more involved in sourcing local materials for…
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Episode Recorded November 20, 2021. Shoemaking chose Amara and not the other way around. Following an accident while working on her MFA thesis, Amara recalibrated her body and mind with a shoemaking class. After winnowing her courses down to that class, she subsequently built her thesis around shoes “that forced the body of the wearer into position…
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Episode Recorded October 18, 2021. Kiko Denzer deftly mixes clay, food, and carving together with a dash of philosophy to bake in the fires of this next conversation. It’s a departure from our typical format, but Kiko has a welcomed perspective of craft and lifeways that doesn’t often show up in the craft world. He has spent most of his life teachi…
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Episode Recorded October 11, 2021. Freddy Roman has grown up within the furniture field and mastered a variety of trades revolving around restoration woodworking and everything that goes along with it, from veneer work in neoclassical furniture to glazing antique windows. This is a thoughtful episode coming from someone who occupies the space where…
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Episode Recorded October 1, 2021. Julia Kalthoff specializes in making carving axes in Stockholm, Sweden under the moniker Kalthoff Axes. As a young girl she grew up amidst textile crafts but was always curious about metal… “How did it work? How could you transform it from one state to another?” By a series of coincidences she worked at an axe maki…
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Episode Recorded August 9, 2021. Kirk Lang specializes in kinetic sculpture and jewelry with a particular focus on astronomy; the first time he saw Saturn in “real time” he was hooked! The sense of awe he felt as he looked through a telescope at the stars heavily influences his work as a craftsperson. He explores unconventional materials like titan…
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Recorded July 21, 2021. In this interview Danielle Chutinthranond shares her non-linear path leading to pottery and how important following her instincts has been in the process of becoming a craftsperson. She identifies her reciprocal/creative relationship between her pottery and the food intended to be served on her pieces, and even creates work …
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Episode Recorded July 13, 2021. Weaver Christine Novotny identifies herself within a traditional lineage of weavers, but also sees herself as placed within a contemporary context and wants to keep weaving relevant for today. She draws heavily on her training as a painter to design the colorways of her weavings and finds the interactions of colors a…
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Episode Recorded June 28, 2021. Aspen Golann is a dynamo furniture maker based in North Carolina who started out her craft career dabbling in weaving before being drawn to woodworking at North Bennet Street School in Boston, Massachusetts. Recently she’s been collaborating and working on a new craft equity project looking for tool makers in the fie…
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Episode Recorded June 21, 2021. David Harper Clemons points to how his relationship with materials can be the springboard for work and how he’s drawn to the broad spectrum of physicality in metalwork. He shares his thoughts on mass production and how that relates to the economics of studio craft. David also elaborates on themes like social/cultural…
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Episode Recorded June 2, 2021. Elizabeth Brim has an illustrious Artist Blacksmithing career that matches her colorful personality. She’s well known for turning the blacksmithing world on it’s head with her steel womenswear. She popularized a technique of using compressed air to make pillows out of steel and she also played an instrumental role in …
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Episode Recorded May 4, 2021. Porfirio Gutiérrez is a Zapotec textile artist specializing in natural dyes. He uses insects, plants and fruits to create dye for the textiles he creates in his studios in California and Oaxaca. He grew up in a family where the knowledge of medicinal plants and textile/dyeing crafts were part of his life, and Porfirio’…
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Episode Recorded April 17, 2021. Woodworking enthusiast Roy Underhill sits down with us to share his experience teaching students and his belief that both hand skills and materials shape us in a profound way. Roy teaches students both in person, online, and for 37 years on the popular PBS television show “The Woodwright’s Shop.” Through those outle…
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Episode Recorded April 5th 2021. This episode is one half of a dual interview with Jeffrey Hart, aka Jeffrey the Natural Builder, of the Building Sustainability Podcast (link below). Be sure to check out his podcast to hear his interview of us, as well as a multitude of other great conversations with designers, builders, makers, dreamers and doers …
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Recorded March 29, 2021. A staple to cabinetry work, Nancy Hiller sits down with us to illuminate the intricacies of different tuna fish sandwich recipes. Jokes aside, during the course of her woodworking career, Nancy has come to recognize the importance of efficiency in her business, and also how writing is part of what keeps her happy. In spite …
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Recorded March 23rd 2021. In this information-packed interview, Sweetgrass basket maker Corey Alston takes us through the history of basket making in Gullah culture. Corey relates how the tragic history of African enslavement is inextricably rooted to his story as a maker and how his work is directly influenced by Gullah culture. Harvesting his mat…
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Recorded March 8th 2021. Incredibly talented Bill Oyster guides us through the twists and turns of his path toward making bamboo fly-fishing rods. After realizing his love of crafting fly rods he quickly had a huge waitlist and took a deep dive into engraving them. Bill also elaborates on the history of fly-rod making, and his own love of participa…
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Recorded February 22, 2021. Woodcarver Danielle Rose Byrd started out making things with anything she could get her hands on. Her ingenuity has continued to influence her work as she starts to include different materials into her practice. Danielle is particularly interested in conceptual woodworking and its interplay with function. She makes bowls…
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Recorded February 15, 2021. Papermaker and book artist Radha Pandey gives us an in-depth view into the history of papermaking, starting in China, Korea and Japan, and it’s subsequent migration to India and Europe. She tells us why she’s so interested in our collective relationship with nature, and how her childhood fostered observation of the envir…
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Recorded February 8, 2021. Studio potter Akira Satake shapes his story for us as he circled around creativity through a variety of life paths. He started his journey through photography and music but came to a breaking point that led him to pottery. Through ceramics, Akira is inspired by the collaboration between himself, clay and fire. Even when h…
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Recorded February 1, 2021. Book arts legend, Hedi Kyle, guides us through her career as a book conservator and her ground-breaking influence on the book art community. As well as her depth of experience, Hedi stresses the importance of learning the foundational techniques before breaking out into something new. And as time goes on she’s more free t…
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Recorded January 18, 2021. Metalsmith Erica Moody introduces us to her first experiences with setting goals, financial stress, large projects and the behind the scenes effort that goes into building a business. In a moment of life’s intensity she pivoted toward her current style of work by coming around to her place as a maker in Maine. She special…
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Recorded December 14, 2020. Designer/maker, Cody Nowell, guides us on her journey towards homecraft. Having a background in textiles, Cody landed her first job sewing sails for sailboats. The technical experience from that job has helped her explore a variety of goods, including leather bags, accessories, and even clothing. Cody also spends time ma…
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Recorded December 7, 2020. Letterpress wizard and graphic designer Brad Vetter has a lot to say about his start in crafting designs with letter press, often towing the line between laser engraving and traditional letterpress technologies. From his humble beginnings as a copy boy, Brad has grown into a letterpress superstar with an impressive list o…
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Recorded November 10, 2020. We decided to mix up this episode a bit for the holidays! This is a two-way interview, where we have a few questions for woodworker and teacher Thiago Endrigo, and he has a few for us! We covered a lot of ground including the variety of reasons one may get into handcraft, how “placing” oneself can happen through handwork…
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Recorded December 3, 2020. This Side Projects starts with announcements from John C. Campbell Folk School and North House Folk School, and progresses into a collaboration with Ray Deftereos of Hand Tool Book Review podcast! Ray chose to share and provide context for a reading from John Ruskin of the Arts and Crafts movement. Many listeners are most…
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Recorded October 1, 2020. Miriam Johnson is a London-based stone carver, mason, and sculptor. She chiseled herself a place in stone carving at age 17 and hasn’t looked back since. She has a diverse background in both architectural masonry and the artistry of stone carving, and brings both aspects into her work through private commissions and workin…
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Recorded September 17, 2020. Weaver, spinner, and natural dyer Cassie Dickson guides us through her vast experience with fibers and textiles. Cassie mostly works with flax linen; growing, processing and using the flax plant, but also has maintained silkworms for many years. She was employed full time in the public school system for many years, whic…
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