Craftland: In Search of Lost Arts and Disappearing Trades by James Fox
James Fox is a Cambridge art historian and this book is about crafts and craftsmanship in Britain, primarily crafts which have a long history in the U.K. and often crafts which are in danger of being lost forever. More than once, the author talks about going to meet someone who was the last person doing their craft, only to find out they had died in the time between setting up the meeting and the actual meeting date. One of the things Fox writes in this book that really stuck with me is about how right now, we think of crafts as hobbies, such as knitting, basketmaking, and blacksmithing; but these crafts or trades were born out of necessity. There wasn’t always mass-produced clothing or blades or baskets for catching lobsters.
There are some of these crafts that I was a bit familiar with, like the coopers, craftsmen who make wooden casks used for brewing or storing things on ships or a number of other things. Then there were also crafts that I had never heard of, like dry stone walling. If you have seen photographs of the British countryside, then you may have noticed the patchwork patterns created by stone walls that are about four and a half feet tall. Through this book, I learned that those are made and maintained by hand and they do not have mortar between the stones. The stones are masterfully fit together by shape and size and held together by weight, gravel, gravity, and physics. These walls are teeming with life and an integral part of the ecosystem. I was utterly fascinated. Did I ever think I would be this excited about walls?! No I did not, yet here I am. Each story of craft, each person he spoke to, is so deeply interesting, even if they may think that what they do is mundane.
I learned so much from this book and was completely enraptured. Dr. James Fox is a brilliant, engaging, inspiring storyteller.