I’ve got a new story in American Craft Magazine:

For most of human history, we lived, worked, and played outdoors. But over the past century or so, we’ve come to spend less time outside and more time in—over 90 percent of our day, by some estimates. A quarter of Americans never leave the house at all during the day.

So it’s no wonder that, from time to time, we feel the urge for wilderness, the need to close the gap between our day-to-day world and the natural one, whether that be via our feet taking us there or doing work with our hands.

“In most rural places a hundred years ago,” says the celebrated woodturner Michelle Holzapfel, “people knit their own sweaters and made their own cheese. In my experience, and from what I’ve observed, the intersection of craft and the natural world is pretty omnipresent.”

Sometimes this longing for an older rhythm, for a more hands-on way of life, can change your path through the world. The makers featured here found their way to crafting gear—and the things they make help connect their customers with the wild.

Read the rest here.