I ran across this documentary about the making of a Steinway grand piano.
The process of constructing one of these takes a year or more. It’s a great example of handmade craftsmanship in a world where we’ve mechanized every step, and oriented so much manufacturing to mass production. A Steinway is still made by a hundred masters, each honing a skillset for decades.
In a world where most everything is mass-produced, it’s no surprise that hand craftsmanship becomes a luxury good. As costs drop on manufactured versions, demand for the art form of hand tooling falls, skilled artisans begin to disappear.
I hope in more domains we’ll have a renaissance of handcrafted things. Not just on the demand side — with more people interested in buying them — but also in the supply: more kids interested in becoming furniture makers instead of financiers, artisans instead of attorneys.
One note I love on the Steinway process (and would be the same for many other crafts) is how many of its makers are working class locals, people with the nugget of a talent or a knack for craft that found a calling, showing up to the factory every day and filing that skill to a razor sharp point.
One day I’ll find a spare $100K for my own 9 foot ebony grand.