Creation Stories

The one thing that all exquisite objects have in common? A fascinating tale. T+L goes around the globe to spotlight eight craft traditions still rooted in place and the people bringing them into a new era.

- Deborah Needleman, Hannah Walhout

CONSIDER FOR A MOMENT something in your home that is handmade-maybe a piece of pottery, a carefully loomed blanket, or a turned wooden bowl. Residing unseen within that object is a long and rich history. Even if the item in your mind's eye is a lopsided cup made by your seven-year-old, that humble thing is a repository of tradition and skill passed from maker to maker over generations-ending up, eventually, in the hands of your child's art teacher.

But if the object happens to be something you purchased while traveling, it is likely also a manifestation of the soul of a community-a physical embodiment of a way of life, a set of beliefs, a relationship to the landscape, and even of political and social history. When we are drawn to a teacup from Kyoto, a sweetgrass basket from the South Carolina Low country, or a rag rug from the Atlas Mountains of North Africa, we are in part responding to the powerful sense of place that object embodies.

This long, backward-looking (and forward-reaching) path-one that an object must traverse to become itself not only imbues an item with significance but is also the flame that keeps endangered traditions alive. Whether you're venturing to far-off lands or sitting on the sofa with your laptop, supporting regional handcrafts can alter the shape of our future. How's that for guilt-free shopping?

The Craft Basketry

The Place South Carolina