Episodes

Lorna Kollmeyer is a sculptor, mold maker, and ornamental plasterer who owns the last plaster shop in San Francisco. Recorded at her Hunters Point Shipyard studio, this episode traces how the trade fell into her lap, the Majestic Hotel job she bid at twenty thousand dollars, what ornamental plaster actually is, and the archive of thousands of salvaged pieces she calls the city's collection, not her own.

Béatrice Amblard is a leather artisan in San Francisco — the only Hermès-trained leatherworker in the US working under her own label, and the founder of April in Paris and Heirloom Leathercraft. Recorded in her atelier, this episode spans nearly five decades in leather: four years at Hermès, leaving in 1988 to start her own bespoke practice, the vanishing tanneries, and training more than a thousand students in fourteen years.

Amanda Luu is a florist, the founder of Studio Mondine in San Francisco, and a lifelong student of Ikenobo Ikebana. Recorded in her home, this episode traces a circuitous path from economics and marketing into flowers — apprenticeships at $11 an hour, a quiet winter of dead branches that shaped her minimalist forms, formal study in a 600-year-old Japanese practice, and her case for running a tech-forward flower studio.

Jefferson Mack is a self-taught architectural blacksmith in San Francisco with a fifty-year career. Recorded in his workshop, this episode traces the path from a childhood Eric Sloane book to scrap-yard forges, rock 'n' roll lighting work, and construction — and into the work he calls "antiques from the future." He talks through the Restoration Hardware spread, the demonstration nights, pricing handmade work, and the slow art of selling a craft most people don't realize they need.

Stuart Brioza is a James Beard Award-winning chef and co-owner of State Bird Provisions, The Progress, and The Anchovy Bar in San Francisco. Recorded inside The Progress, this episode traces his path from dishwasher at fifteen to leading three of the city's most celebrated restaurants — and asks what it means to define California cuisine, why he built a restaurant by hand, and why restaurants are one of the last places that require active human participation.

The Season 2 opener of The Trades Show is a solo episode: host Briana Ottoboni, in San Francisco, on why the rise of AI and the return to analog craftsmanship are happening at the same time. She covers her Bay Area background, the shoe-cobbling encounter that pulled her into the artisan trades, how she defines those trades as the intersection of fine arts and skilled trades, and what Season 2 holds.

Sarah Larson is a candlemaker in San Francisco and the founder of Often Wander. Recorded in her studio — a space set to become a storefront — this episode covers the craft of building a scent, the move from two retail stores to e-commerce, what COVID changed, the manifestation and serendipity in the brand's origin story, and the discipline of saying no to work that doesn't fit.

Marsha Trattner is a blacksmith and sculptor in Brooklyn and the founder of She-Weld. Recorded in her workshop, this episode covers thirty-five years with metal — biology and fine art before blacksmithing found her, why working hot steel feels like drawing in three dimensions, balancing commissions and teaching against her own sculpture, and her advice to aspiring makers: just start.

Cynthia Alberto is a weaver, multidisciplinary artist, and the founder of Weaving Hand in New York City. Recorded at the Fridman Gallery, this episode follows a path from computer science at Merrill Lynch to work shown at MoMA — weaving as both livelihood and lifeline, the community built through weaving circles, and Filipino heritage carried forward through textile tradition.

Frank Beneduci is an American bootmaker in San Francisco and the founder of Beneduci Shoe Design & Instruction. Recorded in his workshop, this episode runs from growing up in Brockton, Massachusetts — once the shoemaking capital of America — to leaving advertising for the family trade, what makes a truly good shoe, and how automation and CAD could shape American shoemaking.

MaryMar Keenan is a ceramicist in San Francisco and the founder of MMClay, with a storefront and studio in Hayes Valley. Recorded there, this episode covers thirty years in clay — the philosophy that a piece isn't finished until it's used, a transformative trip to Japan, running a small-batch production studio, and why handmade pottery should be special but never precious.

Ian James is a leatherworker and designer in San Francisco with a retail space and workshop under his own name. Recorded there, this episode follows the path from dropping out of Parsons to selling on Etsy to opening a store — the day-to-day of the craft, the cost of a brick-and-mortar, what the pandemic did to the business, and the turn into fine art.

Lindsay Knox is a jewelry designer in Oakland and the founder of Ladha. Recorded in her studio, this episode traces the move from corporate retail burnout to making heirloom-inspired pieces by hand — wax carving and gold polishing, how motherhood and heritage shaped the work, vendor partnerships and trade shows, and what it means to scale slowly and with integrity.

Angela Wilson is a butcher and small business owner in San Francisco who runs the neighborhood shop Avedano's. Recorded at the shop, this episode follows a path from restaurant kitchens and martial arts into craft butchery — sourcing from local farms, using every part of the animal, the realities of running a small business in a changing city, and why paying more and eating less might be what preserves our food system.

Luis Peña is a furniture designer and woodworker in San Francisco, the maker behind Peña Made. Recorded in his wood shop, the premiere episode traces a creative path that ran through graphic design and filmmaking before it landed in furniture — storytelling through objects, the power of a beginner's mindset, family roots and memory, and building a business rooted in craft.