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18 Fascinating Crafts Fighting To Survive | Still Standing Marathon | Business Insider

Business Insider・2 minutes read

Artisans worldwide preserve ancient traditions like the intricate art of crafting wagashi in Japan using simple ingredients, precise techniques, and distinctive recipes unique to different regions. Despite challenges like changing preferences and economic competition, traditional artisans like Nester in the Philippines continue to uphold their crafts, ensuring cultural heritage and unique traditions are passed down through generations.

Insights

Wagashi, a delicate Japanese confectionery, relies on simple ingredients like rice flour and beans, requiring precision in timing and temperature control for sculpting.
Lilac Chocolates, a century-old New York institution, maintains tradition with handmade confections like butter crunch, overseen by Anoir, ensuring quality and tradition are upheld.
Nester's salt-making tradition in the Philippines involves a meticulous 8-hour cooking process from seawater brine, facing challenges from iodized salt laws and competition.
M&S Schmalberg, the last artificial flower factory in New York City, preserves heritage through traditional methods, facing industry changes but sustaining business through designer relationships.
Alfie Jacques, a Native American lacrosse stick artisan, crafts sticks by hand despite health challenges, emphasizing tradition and principles, with his passing marked by a lacrosse stick burial.

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What is wagashi?
Traditional Japanese confectionery.

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Summary

00:00

Preserving Tradition: Wagashi Making Around the World

Artisans worldwide preserving ancient traditions, including a family in Japan shaping rice flour, beans, and sugar into wagashi, a delicate art.
Kiaki Mayawa, 17th generation owner of a confectionary shop in Kyoto, specializes in Kashi, a type of wagashi unique to Kyoto.
Wagashi recipes start with simple ingredients like rice flour, sugar, and beans, crafted into namagashi, hanagashi, or hiagashi varieties.
Precision is crucial in wagashi making, with timing and temperature control essential for sculpting the confectionery.
Japanese envoys brought wagashi-like sweets from China in the 7th century, with kak's ancestors learning to make wagashi in 1617.
Wagashi became distinct from Western confectionery after Japan opened its ports to foreign trade in the late 19th century.
Kameha Kaga offers a wide variety of confectionery, including yoranagushi, made with reded Zuki beans, brown sugar, and agar.
Lilac Chocolates, a century-old New York institution, maintains tradition with handmade confections like butter crunch.
Anoir, a Lebanese immigrant, oversees chocolate production at Lilac, ensuring quality and tradition are upheld.
Lilac's commitment to tradition, quality, and fresh ingredients has allowed it to survive challenges like the Great Depression and the COVID-19 pandemic.

23:51

Reviving artisanal salt tradition in Philippines and Bali

Lilac chocolates aim to be the top chocolate company in the United States, known for their dinosaur egg salt, a rare artisanal salt made on a small island in the Philippines.
Crafting the salt involves an 8-hour cooking process to transform seawater brine, a tradition nearly lost in the late 20th century due to changing preferences for cash-paying jobs.
The process starts with soaking coconut husks in saltwater, then burning them for a week to create essential ashes for filtering the brine.
The brine is filtered through a Rattan filter called suckuk, taking up to a day and a half, before being cooked in clay pots balanced between metal rods for 8 hours.
The salt-making team, led by Nester, includes his adopted son JJ and cousin Josephine, who make sea shell ladles for the process.
Despite challenges like a national law requiring iodized salt in the Philippines, Nester and his family persist in reviving the craft, selling mainly to tourists and online.
In Bali, Indonesia, salt farmers like Nura face similar struggles due to iodine laws, selling to cooperatives to add iodine and competing with cheaper imported salt.
Nester's salt is used by restaurants like Chef Jordi Navara's award-winning restaurant in Manila, where it enhances dishes like leche flan ice cream.
The salt-making tradition faces challenges from laws and competition, but Nester and his family, like the last fabric flower factory in New York City, M&S Schmalberg, persevere to preserve their heritage.
Both businesses rely on traditional methods and skilled artisans, like Adam Brand at M&S Schmalberg, who continue to handcraft fabric flowers using century-old techniques and tools.

49:28

Legacy of M&S Schmalberg: Artificial Flower Success

Adam's family business, M&S Schmalberg, has been operating since 1916, specializing in artificial flowers.
In the early 1900s, M&S Schmalberg was one of 114 shops in New York producing 75% of America's artificial flower supply.
Overseas manufacturers began selling artificial flowers at significantly lower prices in the 1950s, leading to closures of many American flower shops.
By 2016, almost 70% of artificial flowers worldwide were made in China due to cost competition.
M&S Schmalberg faced challenges from copied designs and industry unpredictability, with Adam's father resorting to selling various items to sustain the business.
Despite industry changes, M&S Schmalberg became the last artificial flower factory in the Garment District in 2007.
The factory's location in Manhattan and relationships with designers like Vera Wang and Mark Jacobs have helped sustain business.
M&S Schmalberg's flowers have been worn by numerous celebrities, including Beyonce, Anne Hathaway, and Prince Harry.
Adam values personal projects like turning wedding dresses into flowers and is proud of continuing his family's legacy.
Recruiting new workers is a challenge for M&S Schmalberg, with only 13 staff members remaining from over 4,000 flower makers in the past.

01:13:49

Tattoo artist Wang God's cultural legacy

Wang God, a tattoo artist in the capital city Manila, can tattoo up to 12-20 clients in a single weekend, with tourists willing to wait for hours to get inked.
Due to deteriorating eyesight, Wang God now primarily tattoos a signature design of three dots, representing herself and her two grandnieces who are her apprentices.
The cost of a tattoo by Wang God ranges from $5 to $40, with her apprentice Grace working on an arrow and fern design for a client.
Peter Koka, a client with nine tattoos from Wang God, believes it's essential for Filipinos to embrace their culture through traditional tattoos.
In 2007, Wang God made an exception to tattoo a Filipino American artist who brought replica tools made of guava wood, choosing a pattern she saw on his arm.
El, a Filipino tattoo artist in California, specializes in tribal tattoos and teaches traditional methods to apprentices like Joseph Ash.
El co-founded an organization in 1998 to help Filipinos connect with their roots through tattoos, with tattoos becoming symbols of self-identity.
Wang God's legacy continues through her niece Eva, who runs her own tattoo business, contributing to the rise of over 150 tattoo artists in the Village.
Alfie Jacques, a Native American lacrosse stick artisan, has crafted over 880,000 sticks by hand, preserving the traditional craft despite challenges like cancer.
Alfie's dedication to wooden lacrosse sticks, which offer unique benefits but face bans in some leagues, is celebrated by players who recognize the cultural and historical significance of the traditional craft.

01:35:45

"Crafting Tradition: Lacrosse, Noodles, and Soap"

Lacrosse is a significant part of the narrator's life, emphasizing the connection felt when playing the sport.
Alfie, a stick maker, imparts the importance of tradition and principles in his craft, using a purple throwing string as his signature touch.
Despite health challenges, Alfie perseveres, drawing parallels between lacrosse games and life's struggles.
The narrator recounts Alfie's passing, highlighting his burial with a lacrosse stick in hand.
In Indonesia, a unique noodle-making process involves grinding, cooking, and drying cassava root flour for days.
The factory's meticulous process includes soaking the flour, grinding it, and shaping it into noodles using a machine that often breaks down.
The noodles are cooked, dried, and packaged, with each batch requiring careful monitoring due to the lack of preservatives.
Judy Moranto's traditional noodle factory in Indonesia faces competition from mass-produced instant noodles, despite its historical significance.
In Lebanon, traditional olive oil soap making involves a labor-intensive process dating back centuries, with workers handcrafting and stamping soap bars.
The soap-making industry in the Middle East has faced challenges, with only a few remaining traditional factories like Muspan AA in Tripoli, Lebanon.

02:03:06

Centuries-old Dutch clog-making tradition faces decline.

Martin, a clog maker, inherited the craft from his father and has been carving clogs in Lenek for over a century.
He carves clogs using traditional tools like the pmus blade and inherited spoon drills, some over 80 years old.
Martin meticulously carves the outside and inside of the clog, ensuring evenness and precise measurements.
He carves out the toe box, arch, and heel, meticulously checking for smoothness and proper dimensions.
Martin follows a design tradition passed down through generations, with each clog maker having a unique signature design.
Wooden clogs have a rich history in the Netherlands, dating back to the 13th century, popular for their durability and water resistance.
However, the popularity of clogs declined in the 20th century due to the availability of cheaper leather shoes and mechanization.
Peter, a clog painter, continues the tradition of hand-painting clogs in Hindeloopen, using traditional designs and techniques.
Peter's intricate hand-painted clogs are sold for €50 per pair, with custom orders and souvenir clogs also available.
Both Martin and Peter face challenges in passing on their craft to the next generation, as the demand for handmade clogs diminishes.

02:23:39

Zildjian: Symbol Maker of Music Legends

The factory relocated to Quincy, Massachusetts, just before the Great Depression in 1929.
Zildjian created symbols for jazz legends like Jean Cooper, Chick Webb, and Joe Jones.
New symbols like the ride, high hat, and crash were developed, crucial for music evolution.
Zildjian provided symbols for American and British troops during World War II.
The Beatles' first US performance in 1964 using Zildjian symbols made the company famous.
By the mid-1980s, Zildjian was the world's leading symbol maker with 40% market share.
Zildjian works closely with musicians to develop custom models tailored to their styles.
Drummers like Omar Hakim exclusively use Zildjian symbols for their music.
Zildjian remains the standard in the industry despite new competitors.
The next generation of Zildjian, Gen 15, is continuing the family legacy in the business.

02:49:27

"Japanese Kururu Rice Vinegar: Quality and History"

Rice vinegar is a key seasoning in Japanese cuisine, typically aged for 3 months, but modern methods can speed up the process.
Kuroo's natural aging process results in a milder taste compared to regular rice vinegar.
Kururu, a popular brand, costs around $20 for a 1,000ml bottle, double the price of standard vinegar.
Japan's Ministry of Agriculture certified Kururu with a geographical indication in 2015, ensuring authenticity.
Kururu offers health benefits like weight loss and lower cholesterol, supported by studies.
The company expanded its product line to include vinegar-based items like jam and ponzu sauce.
The business faces challenges due to limited land for expansion and the need for specific terrain for production.
The company relies on veteran masters like Kenji to maintain top-notch quality in production.
The Mulan Rouge Cabaret in Paris has a rich history, surviving challenges like fires and competition from newer entertainment forms.
The Cabaret features elaborate costumes, with each dancer wearing about 12 outfits per show, costing up to $5,000 to make one can can costume.

03:17:25

Craftsmanship Endures: Stories of Traditional Artisans

The curved knife called a cavala is used by Ismile to scrape and smooth hides, a physically demanding task.
Ismile struggled to find an apprentice willing to learn the craft of parchment making.
Parchment was first used over 2000 years ago in the ancient Greek city of Pergamon and was ideal for manuscripts due to its durability.
Ismile partnered with the Burma Culture and Art Foundation in 2006 to open Pergamon Parchment, the city's only parchment store.
Melum and her husband Sinan, apprentices of Ismile, now run Pergamon Parchment and struggle to find young people interested in learning the craft.
Musa in Gambia is the last tie dyer in his town to use only natural dyes, extracted from Cola nuts and Indigo leaves.
Musa's tie-dye process involves crushing Cola nuts, soaking them in water, and using traditional tying methods to create intricate patterns.
Musa also makes his own Indigo dye by soaking roots in water and combining them with ashes from palm tree flowers.
Musa's tie-dye business faced challenges due to the Ebola epidemic and COVID-19, but a Hollywood order in 2021 revived his business.
In Germany, Inga Glass Company, one of the oldest glass ornament manufacturers, continues to make Christmas ornaments using traditional methods, despite competition from mass-produced plastic decorations.

03:44:37

Glass business transitions to machine-made ornaments.

In the 1990s, Mari's parents transitioned their glass business to survive by producing cheaper machine-made glass and plastic ornaments, selling to retailers in 40 countries with the US being their biggest market, offering ornaments ranging from $8 to $100, with the peak season being summer to prepare for Christmas orders.

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