My genetic deck is missing several dozen playing cards, like The Whirling
Gear, which explains how mechanical things work, and The Higher Finance, which
enables you to make money as a corporate raider. (However, I do have a complete
suit of Whiners and Bumblers.)
The card I miss most acutely is the Meticulous Craftsman. Whoever holds this
card wins the sensibilities needed to maintain an immaculate shop full of
precision tools and the fortitude to learn Old World artistry. One look at my
jigsaw with its fractured electrical cord or the table saw piled high with
empty cat food cans or my slap-dash workmanship and you would know I didn’t
lose this card on a bad bet; I was never dealt it.
Lots of people think no one holds this card any longer. “They just don’t make
`em like they used to,” they lament when admiring a Stickley rocker or
19th-century iron work. Fortunately, they’re wrong and yesterday I
serendipitously stumbled onto proof. For 15 years, in a hidden shop off Baylor
and West Fifth Street, Mark and Christina Landers have been turning out the
indisputable evidence that craftsmanship is alive and well: elaborate shadow
boxes for Disney commemorating The Nightmare Before Christmas, wooden
book covers for a reprint of the original Canterbury Tales, the
staircase at the Caswell House, and fine furniture that begs to be stroked. (I
failed to spot one empty cat food can anywhere in their shop.)
“We’re not getting rich,” Mark said, when I asked him about the tenacious
patience his work requires. “We had to redefine `making a living.'” Looking
around at their showroom of samples and photographs of their work, I realized
they’re doing more than making a living; they’re making a legacy.
And the Landers aren’t merely anecdotal evidence, an isolated example of pride
in workmanship. They belong to AArC, the Architectural Artisans Collaborative,
a group of 20 or more “artisans, architects, and artists dedicated to the
renaissance of architectural craft in building.” Members include
architect/blacksmith Lars Stanley who created the gates at Zilker Gardens, neon
artist Ben Livingston, faux-finish painter Belinda Casey, and Jerry Post of
Anything Fiberglass. For more information about AArC, give Mark a call at
Landers’ Studio, 472-9663.
This article appears in July 19 • 1996 and July 19 • 1996 (Cover).