‘Made in New York’ to showcase the work of unsung local artisans

Handmade crafts are making a comeback, according to Nathalie Sann.

Sann, the author of three books and an artisan specializing in embroidery and gold leaf, will publish a book that profiles the work of craftsmen in New York, titled “Made in New York: Handcrafted Works by Master Artisans,” on March 27.

“I like the value of doing things by hand,” Sann said. According to Sann, most people prefer artisans’ handcrafted works over mass-produced items.

“I think people are a little bit tired of things who are all done in China. I don’t think the quality is really there and it’s not exactly what they expected. And I think more people are careful about what they’re surrounded by.”

Sann came up with the idea for the project two years ago in France, when she spoke with Renaud Dutreil, a French former minister of small business and craftsmanship. Dutreil currently works to preserve artisanship through legislation.

With the introduction for her book, Sann said that she “understood from the beginning that the route to acceptance and support for artisans in the United States would not be legislation, but rather education.”

Sann hopes her book will gesture toward such education, drawing inspiration from other countries.

“The [French] government has a list of all the métiers you can find,” she said. “And I tried to find somebody who was doing the same thing here [in the United States] for each one.”

Despite this, she said that was “struck” by the amount of practicing craftsmen in New York. Sann visited the City’s five boroughs and even ventured upstate and through New Jersey to spotlight the book’s 40 artisans, which include a basket weaver, a calligrapher, a glassblower, a glover, a metalsmith, a piano maker, a taxidermist, and a wood turner.

Some of the most interesting artists she profiled included taxidermist George A. Dante, Jr. in Woodland Park, N.J.; decoy carver Robert Hand in Sag Harbor, N.Y.; and Daniel Storto, the last glover in Gloversville, N.Y.

Sann said she hopes the book’s photographs of the artisans at work will draw people to read about the artisans’ “amazing” personal stories and their ability to adapt their work to the current economic situation.

But Americans already show a great deal of interest in craftsmanship, said Sann.

“The [American] people, they value the work here much more than they [the French] value the work in France.”

Sann attributes this phenomenon to the fact that there are many fewer artisans in the United States than there are in France.

“You respect the artisan a lot. When people see an artisan, they talk to him like somebody very important. They’re very amazed that people are still able to do artisan work.”