“If you were to rise before dawn on Christmas Eve, and walk down the empty Hackney Rd past the dark shopfronts in the early morning, you would very likely see a mysterious glow emanating from the workshop at the rear of number forty-five where spindles for staircases are made. If you were to stop and press your face against the glass, peering further into the depths of the gloom, you would see a shower of wood chips flying magically into the air, illuminated by a single light, and falling like snow into the shadowy interior of the workshop where wood turner Maurice Franklin, who was born upstairs above the shop in 1920, has been working at his lathe since 1933 when he began his apprenticeship.”
Wonderful personality piece from Spitalfields Life on the life of Maurice Franklin, a 90 year old wood turner in London. Pushes many of my buttons: history, craftsmanship, passion. Plenty to aspire to.
Chef David Chang goes iPad rather than TV
“Can’t get enough of the Momofuku chef, David Chang? Soon you’ll be able to carry him around with you. In late April, he plans to release Lucky Peach, a quarterly iPad app and print journal. Each issue will examine a dish or ingredient through many facets. For instance, the first app will present an interactive bowl of ramen from his Momofuku Noodle Bar. Clicking the ingredients in the image will reveal about 35 videos, 50 recipes, graphics and other elements.”
So far fantastic. This will appeal to many; really foreshadowing the direction media (print especially) is going. But this next quote is very exciting:
“Mr. Chang said that he had talked to television networks about doing a program, but that this offered more freedom and more possibilities, as well as providing research and development for his restaurants. “We were able to go a little deeper than we could have on TV, without being constrained by the networks,” he said. “They wanted yelling. They wanted everything but education.”
More freedom and more possibilities–no longer the providence of television!