PingMag has an interview with Yoshiharu Shinohara, a Japanese “furin” (glass wind chimes) maker.
Lastly, please tell me what it takes to be a craftsman in this day and age.
Lately, parents of young people will come up to me, and say “My child is really quiet and withdrawn, and just likes to stay in the house all the time, so I want him to become a craftsman.” But this is what I tell them: “Lady, you’ve got it all wrong. It’s tough to be a craftsman these days. You’ve got to find your own way to market your product, explain it by yourself, and add value to the product so it will sell for a good price. If you’re quiet and withdrawn, you’d better forget about being a craftsman.” But you know, if you’re good at it, you can use your hands and your mind and make much more money than your average white collar worker. (laughs) If you want to succeed as a craftsman, you’ve got to be passionate about your work, passionate about your wife, and passionate about your land. Look at my family. We all get along. My son’s going to take over the business, and even my granddaughters says they want to make wind chimes. Even though they both went to a good university. (laughs)
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Very nice interview. It gives a good inside into what it means to become a craftsmen. It needs more people like the Shinohara family to preserve such traditions.
They make wonderful products and the sound of a handblown wind chime is so much for beautiful that those coming from a factory. The reason is that the edges at the bottom of the wind chime are regular with the hand-blown one. As a result they never sound the same and each wind chime has its own distinctive character.
I found a shop that sells Shinohara wind chimes with worldwide shipping in case you are interested:
http://www.ANYTHING-FROM-JAPAN.COM/edofurin-wind-chimes-s/2000.htm