Make: Technology on Your Time Volume 10

Making TroubleMAKERS VS. SHAKERS

MAKE IT BEAUTIFUL, MAKE IT LAST, OR DON’T MAKE IT AT ALL.

By Saul Griffith

JUST BEFORE THE NEW YEAR, AN EDITOR at MAKE asked contributors for their New Year’s resolutions (see makezine.com/go/resolutions). I glibly responded, “to only make things worthy of lasting 100 years.” A few months into 2007, I’ve already broken my resolution, but I’ve thought more about the reasons behind it, and why I’m still aiming at it.

I was recently in London and visited the British Museum. While standing there in front of a magnificent carved stone piece of the Acropolis, I had to reflect that what we makers are creating isn’t particularly impressive. We might be making things, but we are not always being craftsmen — stewards of ...