Be a guest
Come on the show
The Trades Show records with one working artisan at a time, in their own workshop. If you make things by hand for a living in the Bay Area, this page tells you whether you are a fit and exactly what a taping day involves, so you can decide before you write.
Who we look for
Four things, and only four
You do this for a living
The trade is your work, not your weekend. It does not have to be your only income and it does not have to be comfortable, but it has to be the thing you are actually trying to do.
The work is made by hand, and it gets used
Furniture, shoes, ironwork, pots, flowers, food, garments, plaster. Functional craft rather than art objects, though plenty of guests cross that line and we are happy to follow them across it.
There is a shop we can film in
The episode is recorded where the work happens. A bench, a forge, a kitchen, a studio in a shipyard. It does not need to be tidy. It needs to be yours and it needs to be reachable.
You are in the season's city
Season 2 is San Francisco and the Bay Area, running through mid-December 2026. Season 1 was recorded in the Bay Area and in New York, so if you work somewhere else, an introduction is still worth sending.
Notably absent from that list: how many followers you have, how long you have been at it, and whether you are good at talking about your work. The last one is Briana's job, not yours.
What it involves
A call, a day, and the footage after
A short call first
Twenty or thirty minutes, no camera. We talk about your work and what you would want to say. Nothing is booked off this call.
Questions, sent ahead
Briana writes a question doc from that call and sends it before the shoot. You will know the shape of the conversation in advance. Nothing is scripted and nothing is rehearsed.
One day in your shop
A few hours on site. A sit-down interview, then footage of you working. One host, a small crew, and no lighting rig that will take over your space.
Editing, then a heads-up
You are not asked to review the cut, but you will know when the episode is going live so you can be ready for it.
You get the footage of your work
Every episode produces short vertical clips as well as the full conversation, and those are yours to use.
Episodes run about 35 to 65 minutes. There is no fee to appear and no fee to be booked, in either direction.
Before you write
Listen to one first
The most useful thing you can do is watch an episode and see whether the conversation is the one you want to have. The most recent one is "THE LAST PLASTER SHOP: Ornamental Plasterer Lorna Kollmeyer on preserving Victorian San Francisco, the business of a rare trade, and becoming a living archive". The Bay Area guide is a faster way to see who has already done this and what came of it.
Then write
One email is enough. Tell us what you make, where the shop is, and a link to the work, whether that is a website, an Instagram account, or photos on your phone. Briana reads every one of these herself, and answers the ones that fit.