On this edition of “The Secrets of Mastery,” a production of Craftsmanship Magazine, we talk with musical inventor Andy Graham, whose long-term fascination with a centuries-old Australian aboriginal wind instrument, the didgeridoo, has yielded several off-the-wall new musical creations.

The Electric Stringed Didgeridoo, the Didge-ly Bow, the Fiddleridoo and the “Didge Bass” all are just a few iterations of the ancient instrument that Graham has fashioned over the past 25 years.

From his Santa Rosa-based studio, his experimentation has also created the Nixa Wobbler, a percussion instrument composed of a magnet on a rod. And he sells the SlapStick, which he patented. It looks like a metal walking stick with frets, and Graham plays it as if holding a guitar.

Graham can be seen performing as a one-man band with his wild-looking instruments, everywhere from Maker Faire in the San Francisco Bay Area to the annual National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) musical trade show in Anaheim.

I sat down with Graham to learn more about how he sees himself fit into the historical tradition of the didgeridoo, and what motivates him to devote his life to creating new musical sounds.

LINKS:

Andy Graham’s website: http://www.andygraham.net

Craftsmanship Magazine: https://craftsmanship.net/

Other episodes of Craftsmanship Magazine's “The Secrets of Mastery” series: https://craftsmanship.net/interviews/

Sign up for Craftsmanship Magazine on Substack: https://craftsmanship.substack.com/

On this edition of “The Secrets of Mastery,” a production of Craftsmanship Magazine, we’re talking about taking bamboo to new heights.

Jonas Hauptman, an industrial design professor at Virginia Tech, has been experimenting with ways to use bamboo, a giant grass, to build multi-story housing.

Hauptman says bamboo could be key to housing the world’s growing population in a more ecological way.

Bamboo culms, or stalks, can be harvested in just 3-5 years, and they grow back in place from the same rhizome bulb. Contrary to wood, steel or concrete, bamboo is lightweight, making it easier to transport, and cheaper to use on the construction site.

For the past seven years, Hauptman has collaborated with organizations in Ecuador and other countries in the Global South to experiment with bamboo construction, which includes planing bamboo stalks and turning them into panels.

Hauptman has had his hands on many different materials throughout his varied career as an entrepreneurial craftsperson. He’s a trained blacksmith, he’s made modernist furniture out of tree flakes, and while living in Los Angeles, he researched how to divert palm tree fronds away from the landfill.

I sat down with Hauptman to learn more about his ambitions with bamboo, and to find out how his hands-on experimentation with materials informs his design work.

LINKS:

Jonas Hauptman at Virginia Tech: https://design.vt.edu/faculty-staff/faculty/industrial-design/hauptman-jonas.html

Craftsmanship Magazine: https://craftsmanship.net/

Other episodes of Craftsmanship Magazine's “The Secrets of Mastery” series: https://craftsmanship.net/interviews/

Sign up for Craftsmanship Magazine on Substack: https://craftsmanship.substack.com/

On this edition of “The Secrets of Mastery,” a production of Craftsmanship Magazine: why is entomologist Doug Tallamy on a national crusade to get private landowners to tear their lawns?

As a wildlife ecology professor at the University of Delaware, Dr. Tallamy sees the world from a bug’s point of view. He’s also a co-founder of an organization called Homegrown National Park. The organization is trying to convince Americans to grow native plants — not ornamental, non-natives — in order to increase biodiversity. Tallamy says rewilding approximately 44 million acres of lawn is critical to restoring the natural order of insects of animals that keep our food webs strong and help alleviate the climate crisis.

We interviewed Doug Tallamy about how he’s rewilded his own land in Pennsylvania and the steps landowners can take to be craftspeople of biodiversity in their own yards.

The “Secrets of Mastery” podcast series is a production of Craftsmanship Magazine. It's a series of conversations with artisans and innovators about what it takes to master their craft, and what their journey has taught them.

Craftsmanship Magazine is a multimedia publication about artisans and innovators who are creating a world built to last. For more Secrets of Mastery episodes, or more stories about craft, check out Craftsmanship.net.

Music in this series is from Blue Dot Sessions. Pauline Bartolone is Senior Audio Editor for Craftsmanship.net. Managing Editor for the magazine is Laurie Weed, and Todd Oppenheimer is the founding editor and executive director.

LINKS:

Homegrown National Park: HomegrownNationalPark.org

Craftsmanship Magazine's podcast page: https://craftsmanship.net/podcasts/

Sign up for Craftsmanship Magazine on Substack: https://craftsmanship.substack.com/