Crafts

The Muppet Show Puppeteer Frank Oz Actor poses with Muppets Fozzie Bear Miss Piggy

A Theory About Muppet Master Frank Oz

The prodigious puppeteer looks back at his most beloved creations, from Grover to Fozzie Bear

Math in yarn

What Knitting Can Teach You About Math

In this professor's class, there are no calculators. Instead, students learn advanced math by drawing pictures, playing with beach balls—and knitting

Sahkanush and Haykanush Stepanyan became experts at rugmaking while still teenagers.

The Age-Old Tradition of Armenian Carpet Making Refuses to Be Swept Under the Rug

A new generation is emerging to craft the ancient rugs

Flying Dog plans to release a seasonal beer each year with hops grown from the project.

The East Coast May Be On the Brink of a Hop Renaissance

Can a farmer and a brewer come together to bring hops back to the eastern United States?

The Smithsonian Craft Show in 2010

How the Work of a Sculptor and a Doctor Landed In the Nation's Top Craft Show

More than 100 artists in the 36th annual Smithsonian Craft Show capture Asia's influence on American design

These Two Brothers Are Helping Keep Armenia's Stone Carving Tradition Alive

This silk velvet ikat robe was made specifically for a woman, as evidenced by the pinched waist. Velvet ikats were considered top-of-the-line, the Freer|Sackler's Massumeh Farhad explains, because two rows of weft were needed instead of the usual one.

How the Technicolor Ikat Designs of Central Asia Thread Into Textile History

A new Smithsonian exhibition sheds light on the rich backstory of an oft-imitated tradition

At Sisian Ceramics, Vahagn Hambardzumyan throws clay on a wheel to make traditional Armenian shapes onto which Zara Gasparyan etches decorative patterns. The terracotta jugs on the left are made to hold water.

The Art of Armenian Pottery Will Be on Display at This Summer's Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The artists behind Sisian Ceramics create works evocative of the Armenian landscape

Bradford saw the dollhouse, shown decorated for Christmas, as ever evolving: "I shall never be completely satisfied with its creation."

Christmas at the Smithsonian's Dolls' House Includes All the Trimmings—in Miniature

It's 'Deck the Halls' with Christmas cheer at the beloved Victorian-style dollhouse at the National Museum of American History

Three-Room Dwelling (detail) by Frances Glessner Lee, about 1944-46

Home Is Where the Corpse Is—at Least in These Dollhouse Crime Scenes

Frances Glessner Lee's "Nutshell Studies" exemplify the intersection of forensic science and craft

Inside Taiwan’s Craft Beer Renaissance

Once a state-run industry, beer-making in Taiwan is blending globally-minded brewing with local flavors

An unknown woman spinning, circa 1900.

‘Spinster’ and ‘Bachelor’ Were, Until 2005, Official Terms for Single People

Being single is hard enough without these pejoratives.

Armenia Might Be One of the Oldest and Youngest Beer-Making Countries in the World

A 50-pound batch at Shriver’s makes about 2,000 pieces.

What Makes Salt Water Taffy the Perfect Summer Candy?

The first families of the sugary treat stir up another season of making history by the bite

Soon, Lucy Sparrow will open a full NYC bodega filled with only felt food.

These Groceries Are Made of Felt

And artist Lucy Sparrow is opening an entire bodega full of them

A Silk Road Wine Trail Karas Monument at the entrance of Rind Village in Vayots Dzor, Armenia.

Can Ancient Techniques Make Modern Wine Better?

A new generation of wineries are going to painstaking lengths to acquire hundreds of historic clay karases

Are Pumpkin Beers, Thank God, Finally on the Way Out?

Some breweries are slowing production, as the trend may be fizzling

How the Thinnest Burmese Gold Leaf Is Made

In Burma, goldworking skills have been passed down over generations

Basque craftsmen showed up with a 26 foot-long skeleton, oak timber and other traditional materials and set up shop on the National Mall to build a ship at the Smithsonian’s 2016 Folklife Festival.

There’s a Lot More to This Basque Boat Than Meets the Eye

The lost story of the Basque heritage is just waiting to be discovered and could be revealed just by watching craftsmen rebuild an ancient whaler

The sensuous curves and subtle walnut grain of Maloof's rocker just seem to beckon and say “Come on in a sit a while.”

Famous for His Rocking Chair, Sam Maloof Made Furniture That Had Soul

A centennial appreciation for this master of mid-century modernism is underway with a California exhibition and an upcoming seminar

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