The Maker's Manual

Chapter 9. Collaboration

In the past, the community of craftspeople was closed. Guilds, or collections of artisans, rigidly controlled who became a carpenter, a mason, a glassworker, a weaver, and many other trades. Master craftsmen were licensed by the guild, and only they were authorized to teach their trade, almost always through a long aprenticeship program. People who practiced a craft without being licensed represented a danger to the guild and had to be fought. Guilds pretty much died out in the late 1700s, although much of its nomenclature still remains (“journeyman plumber”). These days some craftspeople, frightened by the possibilities of globalization, demand the introduction of guild-like safeguarding systems instead of looking forward ...