I should have made this post months ago, but I suppose it's better late than never! Download The American Craftsman: A Contemporary Revival. |
*All comments will post pending approval.Some sample letterpress hits on Crane Lettra 200# DTC. This stock is so beautiful and bites like nothing else. It gives such a pillow-like texture. |
*All comments will post pending approval.Plates on order from Boxcar Press for a couple promo coasters advertising a couple of my new classes next semester at Grove City. |
Gabriel Schut — 9:50pm on 9.12.12I love your website Nate! I think this video is very well done, and you have made me very excited to learn about both craft and web design. *All comments will post pending approval.Check out Why Craft and make a post. Video by Alex Catanese. |
*All comments will post pending approval.Draft One Complete10,000 words later, my thesis draft is on the chopping block for edits. |
*All comments will post pending approval.Channeling William MorrisThis is the title of my current thesis chapter which is my favorite so far. Having given a complete (yet still brief) historical overview of craft, it's time to describe the subtleties of craftsmanship which can only be understood by becoming one. Three sections in this chapter: (1) The Garden; (2) The Cradle; (3) The Shop. Hopefully a break from academic third-person will fly here. I can't think it would be half as meaningful written any other way than personally. William Morris set a great example of understanding through the development of tacit knowledge through doing. Even if I can only emulate him in a small part, I will do my best. |
*All comments will post pending approval.“The link with craft and making is that when one is not just a consumer, guzzling thing after thing, but also a producer, going through the necessarily slower and more thoughtful process of making something, one becomes more aware of the details and decisions which underpin everyday things and experiences, and therefore more able to gain pleasure and inspiration from the appreciation of things.”—David Gauntlett |
*All comments will post pending approval.Make or Think?While I am thoroughly passionate about my thesis work both ideologically and practically, I am finding myself having a hard time staying focused. It is not that I find rabbit holes down which I run, rather it is due to the fact that the more I read about craftsmanship, the more I want to go scrapping for forge-worthy steel. I want to design another piece of furniture. I want to pick up a hammer and tongs and get to work - and every time I feel this way, I am reminded that there are countless others like me who can benefit from my thesis. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more... |
*All comments will post pending approval.Why Care About Process?I will soon be posting my interview with Tom and Daniel of Process Creative - a "lifestyle and narrative commercial production studio." These guys produce super films about people of craft who are using process to create meaningful objects. With a poetic eye and the ability to capture every nuance Tom and Daniel help bring craftsmen such as Steven Kenn and Sean Woolsey well-deserved public attention. Also check out Made by Hand from the Bureau of Common Goods. |
*All comments will post pending approval.Very rarely do I prefer Firefox over Safari or Chrome, but, as you can see in the image, border-radius crops work on the right, but not on the left. It is a great exercise to do shape drawing with CSS, but tough to work through the layering that is required. |
*All comments will post pending approval.This video by @ladddesign is simply incredible and profoundly insightful. |
*All comments will post pending approval.I thought it was about time to put the overview that I wrote concerning the evolution of the Arts and Craft Movement through current times online for downloading. Do It Yourself: The Modern Arts and Crafts Movement. |
*All comments will post pending approval.Anyone who is doing thesis research ought to have Bookends—it has revolutionized mine. |
*All comments will post pending approval.Arts and Crafts Meets ModernI’ve been struggling to find a stylistic reference when it comes to a modern interpretation of Arts and Crafts. Then I started thinking through movements of the 20th Century when it occurred to me that Art Deco does just that. Looking at reference photos makes it evident that there is a meeting of medieval and machine in the 1920s and '30s…especially in architecture. The key will be to reinterpret that again for a digital platform. Currently reading American Art Deco by Carla Breeze. |
*All comments will post pending approval.“Historically, productive and creative activities of this kind [DIY] have allowed consumers to engage actively with design and the design process at a number of levels, and to express a more individual aesthetic unbounded by the strictures of mass-production and passive consumption.”—Paul Atkinson |
*All comments will post pending approval.Scrollbars in LionI noticed today that all of a sudden the scrollbars in Lion that were once absent were visible all the time. This bothered me as the site capitalized on that feature for aesthetic reasons. Obviously this is not super usable, but that is not the point. Rather, I wanted to see what the site could do as simply as possible without a ton of Javascript. |
*All comments will post pending approval.“[Itself]—
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Darin — 2:59pm on 10.27.11I'm impressed. This is sweet! *All comments will post pending approval.CommentsI just got comments working on here yesterday. If you do post a comment, it needs to be approved before posting, but my new iPhone should make that very speedy most of the time. The sliding action is all CSS3 about which I am quite excited. I am looking forward to hearing from you! |
*All comments will post pending approval.Lack of Handmade SourcesIn researching for Digital and Interactive as well as for my personal studying, I’m discovering a void of academic journal entries about the modern craftsman. Obviously, this includes the philosophical and practical implications surrounding the handmade. Even the librarian at the university I chatted with tonight didn’t have much to offer. Right now I have ideas from over 100 years ago coupled with what appears to be a vibrant indie community. Maybe it’s time for new scholarly work on the handmade? |
*All comments will post pending approval.“Craft is not complete if it is strictly confined by narrow definitions that fail to capture its vastness.”—Andrew Wagner |
*All comments will post pending approval.We've finally started taking some product and portfolio shots here at A Hot Mesh. The site's coming soon, we promise! |
Nate Mucha — 3:44pm on 10.26.11You bet it is! Ian McCullough — 1:41pm on 10.26.11This site is terrible. Terribly awesome! *All comments will post pending approval.Just can't get enough from Alex Catanese! |
*All comments will post pending approval.“Cogito ergo sum.”—Rene Descartes |
*All comments will post pending approval.Dynamic HyperlinksIf you hard code in your hyperlinks, a domain change can be a real pain. Using a table of links paired with names, you can have your links dynamically output and easily updatable. Dynamic is always better. |
*All comments will post pending approval.“It has been said: The whole is more than the sum of its parts.”—Kurt Koffka |
*All comments will post pending approval.The Great ExperimentWelcome to the new site! Things are radically different compared to my prior site. Trying to look forward, this site incorporates and relies on some features that only modern browsers support. To help make sure everyone who visits takes advantage of those features, I have a browser check prompt the visitor to upgrade if their version is out of date. Though perhaps not practical, hopefully some boundaries are being pushed here. |
Nate Mucha is instructor of design at Grove City College in Grove City, PA. He is also a designer, developer and craftsman living with his wife, son and two cats in Kent, OH. In 2011, Nate started the design collaborative A Hot Mesh offering design, web development and short-run, alternative printing.
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