COVER STORY
Handmade
This week in Studio 360, Kurt Andersen and furniture maker Mira Nakashima hear about artists who literally take their livelihood into their own hands. We'll hear from visual artists, musicians and hipster knitters who feel they need a hands-on relationship with the materials they work with.

To Make A Reed
Great musical instruments are often hand-crafted, but most professional oboe players have to carve their own reeds on a regular, almost daily basis. A really amazing reed may last six months, but most are at their peak for only about two weeks. As Sarah Elzas discovered, this obligatory handwork forges a peculiar bond between musician and instrument.
To hear some oboe solos, click here
Check out Stretto, Miriam Kapner's trio
Information about Meredith Rouse's reeds
Visit The International Double Reed Society
Purchase a book about oboe reed styles

A Handmade Legacy
In late 19th century England, the Arts and Crafts movement sprung up as a reaction to heavily ornamented, stuffy Victorian design. Most American craft masters saw themselves as designers first and philosophers second – but Elbert Hubbard wanted to reverse that order. Shea Dean pursued the legend of Hubbard up to East Aurora, New York, where a colony of artisans is trying to preserve Hubbard's legacy.
Find out more about Roycroft
Visit the Roycrofters at Large Association
Visit Tom Pafk's website
Purchase a book on the Roycroft movement

Kurt and Mira Talk More About Handmade

Love, From Scratch
Aminah Robinson works with all kinds of materials and found objects – anything from wood to leather, textiles and mud. When Kurt Andersen spoke with Robinson, she explained how she takes her artistic cues from her ancestry and from her community, and the necessity of having physical contact with her materials.
Read a Cincinatti Enquirer profile of Aminah Robinson
Read Aminah Robinson’s bio
Purchase Symphonic Poem: The Art of Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson

SPECIAL GUEST
Mira Nakashima
Mira Nakashima is the director of the Nakashima studio in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Her father George Nakashima was a pioneer furniture craftsman, architect, and woodworker whose deep respect for the natural forms and flaws of wood guided his creations. An architect, Mira continues her father's furniture making today, producing his designs as well as her own, in the same workshop he set up over 60 years ago.
Go to the official Nakashima site
Read more about Mira Nakashima
Purchase Mira’s book Nature Form & Spirit : The Life and Legacy of George Nakashima

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How Art Works: Dancing Feet
Back in the day, there was one thing every entertainer had to know how to do: tap dance. Sara Fishko explains how a generation of dancers learned how to speak with their feet.
Find out about upcoming tap festivals near you
Visit the American Tap Dancing Foundation's website

Mystery of Omaha
After his father died, Michael Rips discovered he'd left behind a portfolio of portraits. No one in the family knew his father was a painter, but the bigger mystery was the subject of the portraits. Searching for the story behind the paintings, Rips tumbled down a rabbit hole of amazing discoveries which he reveals in his new book, Face of a Naked Lady, an Omaha Family Mystery. Rips recently stopped by Studio 360 to tell his story to Kurt Andersen, a fellow son of Omaha.
Read the New York Times review of Face of a Naked Lady
Purchase The Face of a Naked Lady: An Omaha Family Mystery

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