Word: craft
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...water is pumped out of the pontoons, the ships should rise high enough in the water to fit into the dry dock. Tugboats will guide the unwieldy craft into place. In the dock, the cables to the Kursk will be lowered, the plugs removed and the sub released Tugboats will then pull the Giant 4 and the pontoons out of the dry dock. The dock holding the sub will then be raised from the water...
...This renaissance comes at an interesting time. The forces of globalization, standardization and mass production are widely decried as threats to such hand-crafted quality. Industrialized agriculture long ago forced tasty, locally grown food products out of most supermarkets, and small farmers have only recently begun to discover new, niche markets. Franchised retailers and mega-discounters are supplanting friendly corner shops and personalized service. Manufacturers of clothing, motor cars and other consumer products are merging into giant, cross-border enterprises to take advantage of economies of scale - and to bear the ever-growing expenses of marketing and technology. Yet perhaps...
...these craftsmen is Saverio Pastor, who makes both oars and forcole in his workshop near the old Arsenal. Pastor learned his craft from the last maestro in Venice. "What I like is grabbing those huge trunks and bringing the forcola out of them," he says...
...wooden sculptures and Pastor has both Mick Jagger and architect I.M. Pei among his clients. He says the crisis in gondola making is only part of a larger problem. "There are other kinds of boats that people don't even know how to make anymore," he says, referring to craft like the peata and the batea con la coda di gambero (boat with the shrimp's tail), both once used for transporting goods. "Those who knew how to make them closed down, and no one has replaced them...
...While making forcole was considered a humble craft as recently as 20 years ago, that's no longer the case, since so few artisans know how to do it. Fortunately for the gondoliers, the forcola carvers are relatively young. One of Pastor's colleagues, Paolo Brandolisio, is only 33. Brandolisio points out that not many people want to learn the skills that have shaped his life. That's not necessarily bad for him. It means there's plenty of business. "I could work even at night," he says, pointing to a few dozen oars leaning against the wall that have...