Latest news with #craftspeople
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Automotive
- South China Morning Post
How to fix ‘workforce crisis' in watchmaking? Rolex has an answer
Ever since watches began bringing order to the ephemeral passage of time, they also started doing something else: breaking. Advertisement Own one long enough and something will probably go wrong. It will run slowly. Or fast. Or stop altogether. Decades ago, watch repair shops across the US were staffed with technicians who could service almost any mechanical timepiece when its intricate innards – tiny gears, wheels and springs – failed. But when the American watchmaking industry declined in the mid-20th century, the number of craftspeople who could fix or fabricate timepieces began to dwindle too. Now, some in this niche industry are labelling the situation a workforce crisis. It comes amid renewed interest in mechanical timepieces despite the omnipresence of mobile phones and their effortless timekeeping. A dearth of new watchmaking schools – where students learn about repairs, manufacture or both – is central to the problem. One watch company, California-based JN Shapiro Watches is among a handful of US-based firms struggling to hire watchmakers. Spencer Torok, a watchmaker at JN Shapiro Watches in California, polishes a component of a Resurgence series watch. Photo: TNS The Swiss behemoth Rolex has come up with a solution. In September, the Geneva-based company debuted a new watchmaking school at the Rolex Watch Training Centre in Dallas.
The Guardian
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Make beads, not war: a bedazzled fighter jet lands in Seattle
Most retired planes settle for an afterlife at a boneyard or disassembly facility. A defunct MiG-21 fighter jet that recently arrived at Seattle's Museum of Flight is not most planes. While many decommissioned vessels collect rust, the Soviet-designed aircraft is blanketed from top to bottom, inside and out, in tens of millions of glass beads that explode in a riot of color. Titled The MiG-21 Project, the work belongs to South African artist and filmmaker Ralph Ziman, and stands out among heavyweights like the Dreamliner and the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 on display at the museum's colossal exhibition site. The vessel's sharp silhouette is softened by the beadwork's geometric patterns and shiny finish, which outfit every part of the small-yet-ferocious aluminum body and cockpit of the plane, except for the nose cone and afterburner. Ziman has spent the last 12 years covering decommissioned weapons of war such as AK-47 assault rifles with brightly hued beads for his project titled Weapons of Mass Production. The kaleidoscopic airplane, Ziman's final work in the series, is the result of a five-year collaboration between the artist and roughly 100 craftspeople based in Johannesburg. The jet found Ziman through a logistical partner who informed him about a group of Polish air force MiGs left to rot in a Florida warehouse. 'They often use these jets for stress-testing the pilots but this one didn't have any combat record, so the US military contractor decided they wouldn't use them,' he says. Ziman, who was already in search of the right jet to dress in beads, couldn't let this one wallow on the runway any longer. 'It was being rained on for I don't know how many years,' says the artist about his cold war-era find, which he shipped cross-country on a flatbed truck to his Los Angeles studio in 2019. Around 12,000 MiG-21 jets were produced during its 70-year history, making it one of the most-used fighter jets of the 20th century. They are in fact still in service in countries such as India and Pakistan. The warplane played a grim role in combat, from 1967's six-day war in the Middle East to the Croatian war of independence in the 90s. Ziman's urge to repurpose military gear was fueled by more recent uproars, particularly the Black Lives Matter protests. Seeing white cops in the US sitting on Casspirs, he says, referencing a commonly used police vehicle in South Africa, especially in the 1980s and the 90s, 'made me go out and talk about militarization of police forces even more'. Long fascinated by airplanes as well as Afrofuturism, Ziman says his project reflects his trust in beauty to initiate conversation about heavy topics. 'When you cover a weapon or a warplane with beads, the public, especially young people, can see them with a new perspective and become interested in talking about what they actually mean,' he says. The aircraft's role in South African apartheid particularly intrigued the 62-year-old. During the Angolan civil war in 1976, Cuba – which had made a pact with the MPLA (the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola) – gained the upper hand through a group of MiG planes gifted by Russia. As a result, South Africa, which supported the opponent Unita (the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), withdrew from the war. The MPLA's victory prompted South Africa to reconsider its position on the continent, helping to hasten the end of apartheid. 'I have always been amazed by this parallel,' adds Ziman. The eye-catching geometric emblems reflect craft traditions across the African continent, particularly in Zimbabwe and South Africa's Mpumalanga province, where Ziman's collaborators hail from. Ziman, however, omitted any direct reference to a singular regional ornament tradition such as Zulu or Ndebele, and rather opted for what he calls an 'eclectic pan-African feel'. The overall effect is one of communal celebration of the motifs commonly seen across the continent in beads, murals and paintings. The intercontinental project was both laborious and logistically challenging, requiring Ziman's team in Los Angeles to send casts of the plane's parts, such as the leading edge of the wing or the rivets, to Johannesburg as templates for the craftspeople to weave their motifs, with most of the beadwork taking place during the pandemic lockdowns. Among those spearheading the work on the South African side was Thenjiwe Pretty Nkogatsi, the founder of Johannesburg's women-run collective Anointed Hands, which promotes the long history of the Ndebele tribe's recognizable and intricately formed arts-and-craft tradition, which has been passed down for generations. Nkogatsi oversaw the project's leg in Mpumalanga, driving around the remote parts of the region for five years and commissioning craftswomen to adorn Ziman's templates. 'Different techniques stem from different subcultures and families, and we had to be able to master all in order to make the vision come to pass,' she said via email. She considers beadwork a way to 'break down cultural elements into smaller elements that we can incorporate into our day-to-day. They serve as a refreshed reminder of who we are and our potential of where we are headed.' As the vessel crescendoes Ziman's 12-year-long beading project, he admits: '[I] hate finishing things because I can no longer improve them.' He hopes, however, at a time when conflicts are sweeping the world, the project will offer visitors an alternative outlook and inspiration to consider ways to take part in the discourse. To that end, a portion of the proceeds from the beaded plane's potential sale will benefit a charity organization that works with Ukrainian children for art therapy. 'We will basically use this plane initially created by Russians during the Soviet Union to help some of the war victims in Ukraine,' he says. 'The work is already even more relevant now than when we started working on it only five years ago.' Ralph Ziman's The MiG-21 Project is open at the Museum of Flight in Seattle through 26 January 2026
CNA
21-06-2025
- Business
- CNA
Retro flip clocks, mahjong tiles, neon signs: Meet the last masters behind Hong Kong's dying trades
Hidden from the modern dynamism of the international financial hub, Hong Kong's older generation of skilled craftspeople continue to go about their daily lives – from hand-carving mahjong tiles to moulding and twisting neon lights. During the post-war boom and the rise of the manufacturing industries, textiles, garments, plastics and electronics, and traditional crafts requiring specialised labour and skills drove the economy. In recent years, China's mass production has taken over. With the advent of technology and dwindling number of apprentices interested in doing it the old school way, many traditional handmade crafts are in danger of dying out. To preserve and celebrate Hong Kong's heritage and cultural identity, Lindsay Varty documented the traditional tradesmen and women and their stories in a coffee table book: Sunset Survivors, Meet The People Keeping Hong Kong's Traditional Industries Alive. Here are five industries you can support and buy souvenirs from on your next trip to Hong Kong: 1. HAND-CARVED MAHJONG TILES In 2014, mahjong tile making was added to Hong Kong's Intangible Cultural Heritage list of crafts, practises, and customs that the city should safeguard before it disappears. There are only about five master carvers of mahjong tiles left in Hong Kong, who apply traditional pigment powders and mix them for more vibrant colours than those done by machines. Every tile is dusted off and inspected by the master after carving and then hand-painted. Madame Ho Sau Mei at Kam Fat Mahjong in Hung Hom is Hong Kong's last female mahjong tile carver. She learned the trade from her dad when she was 13 and eventually took over the business as neither her brothers nor her children were interested in carrying on the legacy. Ho, in her 60s, carves each tile freehand without a draft; she leaves the tiles on a 100-watt lightbox so that the heat softens the surface, making it easier to begin carving. Machine-made tiles cost 10 times less than the hand-carved sets (S$600). View this post on Instagram A post shared by Humid with a Chance of Fishballs Tours 🍡 | Hong Kong Food Tours (@ilikefishballs) On Jordan Road, Cheung Shun-king (Uncle King) of Biu Kee Mahjong has been carving mahjong tiles for over 50 years. Like Ho, he had taken over his father's shop and began learning the trade as a teenager, "at that time, it was the master carvers that did the carving, and I started by preparing the paint, painting and delivering orders." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Biu Kee Mahjong (@biukee_mahjong) Both King and Ho are less productive than in their younger days and hope to continue carving sets of mahjong tiles for as long as they can. 2. TWEMCO CLOCKS These award-winning made-in-Hong Kong retro flip clocks have featured in many Wong Kar-wai films and maintain their cinematic retro design charm. And they seem to be making a comeback with the new generation. Lau Cho Hung founded Twemco in 1960; his company manufactured electric fans and diversified into clocks in 1968. They've since sold over a million. Both his sons studied electrical and mechanical engineering; they developed and patented the mechanism for the automatic flip calendar in 1969. As Wong Kar-wai's films frequently deal with themes of time and distance, cinematography often featuring Twemco clocks. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sam is Home | Hong Kong (@samishome) The retro clocks are reminiscent of the 1970s, often found in banks and government buildings; the switching display panels continue to function the same as before and make a snapping sound when they "flip." Prices range from S$120 for the smallest ones to S$960 for the large ones. Although Chinese superstitions forbid one to gift clocks – the homonym "zhong" symbolises sending someone on their final journey (death), you can still pick up a souvenir or two for your home. Where: Cheung Fat Industrial Building. Tai Kok Tsui, 64-76 Larch St, 2/F Unit 2-5 Cheung Fat Industrial Building. 3. NEON SIGNS Part of Hong Kong's urban fabric since the 1950s, neon signs are quickly disappearing due to building regulations and the government's safety crackdown on old neon signs. In 2023, Anastasia Tsang's award-winning film A Light That Never Goes Out was a love letter to capture the vanishing neon signs in Hong Kong. There are about a dozen neon sign masters left in Hong Kong who are still honing their craft. In the 1980s, 17-year-old Wu Chi Kai started as an apprentice with his father, a neon sign installation master. Throughout his career, he created iconic neon signs, including the triangular neon sign for the Bank of China Tower, a recognisable part of city skyline. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tom Williams (@ Neon signs have also been immortalised in classic Hong Kong films like The World Of Suzie Wong and Chungking Express, but today, cheaper and longer lasting LED lights have taken over. Neon lights last about a decade and lose their luminosity over time. In the 1980s boom, all businesses needed signages, from shops and restaurants to banks. There used to be about 40 masters making neon signs in the 1980s, but Master Wu reckons there are only about eight left. View this post on Instagram A post shared by wu chi kai (@c_kai_wu) Master Wu now has more creative freedom. He works on interiors and home decoration, collaborating with young artists and designers. The meticulous craft requires high heat to torch and bend glass tubings into desired shapes and designs, and then neon or argon gas is pumped in to give it its bright hues. His workshop isn't open to the public but he continues to give talks. All is not lost, as the younger generation is working to preserve this visual culture. Hong Kong native Jive Lau, a multimedia designer who trained with a Taiwanese neon master for several years, offers workshops at @kowloneon. 'Demand (for neon) has dropped and we are trying to keep the craft and its techniques alive by taking commissions, collaborating with organisations and brands. LED cannot replicate the effects of neon.' From Jun 29 to Jul 7, PMQ courtyard is showcasing Neon Heroes: Illuminated Dreams by artist Jerry Loo, who's collaborated with his grandfather, Wong Kin-wah. The latter is one of Hong Kong's remaining senior neon craftsmen, who has contributed to thousands of neon signs across Hong Kong. 'It truly warms my heart to see young people bringing such fresh creativity to neon," said Master Wong, 83. "I've personally started collaborating with various young artists, and while mastering the traditional craftsmanship – especially the precise bending for Chinese characters – takes dedication, I wholeheartedly embrace their new vision." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tom Williams (@ Hong Kong NGO Tetra Neon Exchange works tirelessly to preserve Hong Kong's visual culture, and M+ museum launched a digital initiative on neon signs in 2021, preserving those that have appeared on Hollywood cyberpunk movie sets like Bladerunner and Ghost In The Shell. Veteran Master Wu's workshop isn't open to the public, but he continues to give workshops and talks while restoring old signs and creating new ones. 4. PORCELAIN Established in 1928, Yuet Tung China Works is the oldest hand-painted porcelain factory in Hong Kong and the first large-scale hand-painted porcelain factory in Hong Kong. Third-generation proprietor Joseph Tso carries on his grandfather's legacy; it is the only porcelain factory that maintains its production, which is fired in its kiln. There are only a handful of master craftsmen who hand-paint patterns on white porcelain for tableware; Tso and his team continue the traditional method of painting Canton porcelain or "guangcai'. The Intangible Cultural Heritage Office describes this as "an overglaze decoration technique where patterns are drawn then painted on white porcelain before firing at a low temperature." The process is labour-intensive and requires meticulous skills. Canton porcelain blends traditional Chinese methods with Western motifs and styles. When Hong Kong was a British colony, there were many custom orders for Western family crests, company logos and such on tableware. View this post on Instagram A post shared by 粵東磁廠 Yuet Tung China Works (@yuettungchinaworks_official) Yuet Tung China's works became known for its Canton rose porcelain – a paint pigment called "xihong" or Western red. Since the 1970s, patterns have been carefully transferred and stamped onto plain white porcelain by hand instead of hand sketching each design. The porcelain is fired in the kiln, and the designs are hand-painted with a thin brush. The porcelain returns to the kiln for the colours to set with the finishing touches. 5. SOYA SAUCE Soya sauce is a staple in Hong Kong households' cooking, and only a handful of masters still make it the traditional way. Most traditional sauce makers are family-owned, and closure seems inevitable when the younger generation has no interest in taking over. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Cha Guo 茶粿 (@chaguofilm) Yuet Wo soya sauce factory in Kwu Tung village, Sheung Shui, New Territories, has been here since the 1960s and faces the threat of urban development. Currently run by its third-generation Jack Pong, he explains that the traditional way of making soya sauce takes three to six months, requiring time to sun-dry the soya beans and the natural fermentation process. Yuet Wo also makes Chinese rice wine on-site and is one of the only two rice wine makers remaining. Pong has diversified the business by making vinegar from rice wines and introducing fruit wines like lemon and plum. He is determined to keep soy sauce production on home soil and is one of the few remaining brands of soya sauce made in Hong Kong. The Kowloon Soy Company in Central Graham Street is where I always stop by for souvenirs for friends. Since the 1960s, third-generation owner Kenneth Wong says that their shop remains the only one on the street – a throwback to the old days when traditional pickle and soya sauce shops were all over Hong Kong. Wong's factory is in Tin Shui Wai, in the New Territories, where soya beans are fermented in large earthenware jars under the sun for three and a half months. The factory founded in 1917 by Wong's grandfather still bears the original name "Mee Chun Canning Co Ltd", which had to change during the Japanese occupation. View this post on Instagram A post shared by まゆ (@mayuyudayo) The other arm of the business is canning, which has been hugely profitable for exports. To sustain the business's profitability, Wong has had to outsource part of the labour process to Dongguan for both canning and kickstarting the soya bean fermentation process in a temperature-controlled room, which they are unable to do in Hong Kong as they rely on natural airflow and ideal temperatures.
The Independent
20-06-2025
- Science
- The Independent
What a 5,000-year-old whale tooth tells us about ancient craftspeople
A rare sperm whale tooth, discovered at the Copper Age Valencina archaeological site in southwest Spain, offers new insights into ancient Iberian artistry. This fossil, dated to between 5,300 and 4,150 years ago, is the first marine mammal tooth of its kind found from this period in Iberia. Copper Age craftspeople likely collected the tooth from an ancient shoreline and fashioned it into personal ornaments or symbolic artifacts before its deliberate burial. Analysis revealed the tooth belonged to an adult sperm whale, showing signs of natural marine erosion and distinct human modifications like drilled holes and cut marks. The discovery significantly enhances understanding of ivory use in prehistoric times.
NHK
16-06-2025
- Business
- NHK
Osaka Expo displays giant copper kettle from Niigata Prefecture
A giant kettle created by a metalworking firm in Niigata Prefecture is on display at the World Expo in Osaka through Wednesday. The maker in Tsubame City was established more than 200 years ago. Craftspeople used a hammering technique called "tsuikidoki" to make the kettle from two copper sheets. It measures 1.16 meters tall and 0.95 meters across. A brim around the kettle prevents it from falling off a stove. The company says this design was invented by its founder. During the three-day exhibit, craftspeople will carve seven herons on the kettle's surface. A company official said they hope to encourage people who are discovering the world of copperware for the first time to visit the production site in Niigata.
