Balsa Wood Model of New York City Took 21 Years to Make

It encompasses nearly one million buildings and it’s now on display in the city it represents. Architectural models are common in the building trade but nobody was quite prepared for this. The hand-carved model of the city encompassing 1,500 square feet took 63-year-old truck driver Joe Macken more than two decades to create. And while […]

A New London Exhibition Celebrates Japanese Master Carpentry

The works of Tsunekazu Nishioka, who passed away a quarter century ago and is considered Japan’s greatest “miyadaiku,” or master carpenter, are now on display. “The Craft of Carpentry: Drawing Life from Japan’s Forests” opened at Japan House London last month and runs through July 6, celebrating the work of this classic woodworking technique and […]

A Medieval Carpentry Technique Helped Rebuild Notre-Dame

The reconstruction of the legendary cathedral in Paris used “scribing,” a technique employed in its original construction. When French officials made the decision five years ago to rebuild Notre-Dame Cathedral as close as possible to its original design following a massive and devastating fire in April of 2019, it meant using a carpentry technique that […]