Atlas Trail
Eight stops through the long argument between handwork and industry: a wheel older than writing, the exhibition that crowned the machine, the movements that answered it, and the fairground where hand and machine finally shared a table.
Stop 1 of 8.
Tools and Equipment
Fourth millennium BC. Rotary motion meets clay in Mesopotamia; the craft workshop gets its first machine.
Stop 2 of 8.
Crafts
Warp and weft clothe the ancient world; millennia later, mechanizing this exact craft ignites the industrial revolution.
Stop 3 of 8.
Milestones
1851. The machine age throws itself a party in a palace of glass; six million people attend, and the design reformers leave appalled.
Stop 4 of 8.
Figures
The Arts and Crafts answer: nothing in your house that is not useful or beautiful, and dignity for the hands that make.
Stop 5 of 8.
Concepts and Movements
1925. Japan's answer runs deeper: the unknown craftsman's ordinary bowl, made without pride or signature, is the most beautiful thing of all.
Stop 6 of 8.
Milestones
1920. East and West fire a kiln together at St Ives, and the studio craft movement has its founding workshop.
Stop 7 of 8.
Milestones
1968. Access to tools: the counterculture decides the answer to industry is not to reject tools but to hand them to everyone.
Stop 8 of 8.
Milestones
2006. Robots beside quilts in San Mateo: the maker movement declares the old argument over, and the hand and the machine share a table.
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