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By the mid-nineteenth century, European ironwork was in decline due to innovations brought about by the Industrial Revolution. Cast iron was replacing the more time-consuming and skillfully made hammered iron, driving the decorative smith toward extinction. A French historian wrote that the last piece of decorative ironwork to be produced in the 'glorious tradition' of wrought iron was made in 1809 and surrounded the choir in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. One hundred years later - in 1909 Samuel Yellin established a blacksmith shop and attempted to recreate the quality craftsmanship found in historic ironwork.... (2003) Complete Story
One can get tired of it all and want to be entertained, but the media outlets for distraction can look old hat and boring. So why not turn to art for a bit of uplift and fun? Why not abandon the daily grind, in which one has made all that life - draining progress in one's career, and get a little innocent excitement back, regress for the pleasure of regressing, renewing one's feeling for life in the process? The programmed leisure that passes for playfulness these days all those sports, with their rules and regulations, which make them seem like another dreary job (so much conformity, obedience, self suppression) is hardly as playful as art can be....
(2001) Complete Story
Of all the luxury commodities in the world, fragrance is the most paradoxical. Volatile and ephemeral, it nevertheless summons up our deepest hidden memories. Unseen, it is felt everywhere. Given its flyaway nature-as well as its precious ingredients-fragrance calls out for beautiful containment.... (2003) Complete Story
The delicious paradox of quantum physics is that matter exists simultaneously as particle and as wave. Much of Reiko Ishiyama's recent jewelry shares that strange condition, appearing concurrently as both object and gesture, point and vector.... (2001) Complete Story
Abrasha occupies about 300 square feet of neat, well organized space. Unlike many jewelers, who make do with garages, kitchen tables, barns, and industrial offices, often characterized by a lack of light, he enjoys a corner office with large picture windows. Against the walls are an office desk, jewelers' workbenches, and fabrication equipment, and in the center are more heavy-duty items, such as rolling Milk, a lathe, and milling machine; most are old but still in fine working condition.... (2002) Complete Story
