10 Of The World’s Priciest Arts And Art Supplies | So Expensive | Insider Business

you can tell that the guy making the bonsai scissors really loves his work and his art. the fact that he’s also letting his sons choose whether or not they want to pursue in his craft was heartwarming but also bittersweet.. 22 generations thats craxy

bro Ghassan is such an absolute chad. To rediscover a process from ancient historic texts is nothing short of remarkable. We need more of this dude.

I was NOT expecting the tyrian purple guy to sound like that omg

To me craftmanship means I pay once for an item to last me a lifetime versus buying multiple cheaper versions every few years. It really means paying upfront. It also means respecting the item and the value that was imbued into it.

as much as I love the craftsmanship in the artisan calligraphy brushes, having practiced calligraphy for a decade with a master calligrapher whose family are all masters, they all say the same thing... the quality of the brush is far less important than the hand that uses it. if you are disciplined enough, you can write beautifully with the frayed part of a snapped chopstick

For those of you who don't know, Daizo Kaneko has a line of calligraphy pens and brushes! He's like the Japanese bob ross tbh

A family of blacksmiths spanning 22 generations?!?!? Holly hell! That is so amazing, I hope he's able to preserve his family's business. His tools are definitely works of art themselves, and they create art as well. What a rich cultural background. I wish I had more culture in my upbringing. I don't even know what my Grandfather's names were.

Amazing. The amount of work and time to make sumi ink is inspiring on its own. The ink is art.

I am a traditional Chinese lacquer artist.Studied 26 years in China.The artist explanation is perfect.Japan makes the most pristine lacquer in the world.I believe Tang Ming Xi has visited this artist. The one problem is the fact natural lacquer is related to poison ivy and artists today are not Will to sacrifice the time to make apiece.Thank you for this video.

My ancestors used to make calligraphy ink, and I can still remember the wooden molds. But these molds were all thrown away 35 years ago. My family migrated from Southern Anhui, China, where the most famous calligraphy ink originated, and was produced.

The development of modern pigments and large-scale paint manufacturing helped make the art and craft of oil painting affordable to almost anyone. It's always interesting to cite the luxurious, lapis-derived Ultramarine, the exotic and macabre Mummy Brown, and the sad (and thankfully obsolete) Indian Yellow, but the current palette is largely made up of highly affordable, synthetic organic pigments developed after the 19th c. These often out-perform historical colors in terms of permanence, tint strength (the potency of a color in mixtures) and covering power. Synthetic pigments also make it possible for a huge variety of artist's colors to be safe enough for anyone to use with no special concern for safety, unlike some historical colors which would not be considered safe today by most standards. We think the Old Masters would marvel at the low cost, high quality and broad availability of paint available to artists today!

I felt sad for the lack of health and safety protection for the workers, even if they are self employed. Look at al the soot on the faces and no doubt the carbon in the lungs.

The lifelong dedication to their craft is so amazing and admirable. This is a wonderful documentary.

I am impressed and amazed anytime an artisan shares their process to bring understanding to their work. I appreciate the craftsmanship that takes time and pride in quality. I can only imagine the extinction of some processes that we lost over time.

Man, Ghassan could spread this technique as an influencer and also give workshops and turn his workshop into a museum- this way more people will get to know about him and the lost ancient tradition and support his amazing art!!

People making paint out of pollution made me cry, I literally cried, I am so touched that some people out there still do what they're passionate about and also love to save their planet. That's such a wonderful noble cause. As an artist myself, I think that is one of the ways we can show our love to others, to humanity, that we care about the future. Thanks for that.

"we have to be very careful about over harvesting" ... "I used 800lbs of snails to dye this scarf and im not finished yet"

In Mexico they have a similar snail that gives purple dye, but they milk the gland without killing the snail.

Sumi-e ink is one of those heritage crafts that, if the market truly demanded it, could readily be scaled through the use of automation. However, the artists and calligraphers who use the ink value the craftsmanship behind the inks that they use as much as the ink itself. So even if you could use industrial processes to produce an identical product, that isn't really what they want for their pieces. Maybe they would use those ink sticks to practice with, but for the calligraphy or paintings that they intent to pass on or sell, they would want something with more heritage and tradition behind it. Having used a few different grades of brushes while painting, I can 100% understand the demand for high quality brushes. Particularly if you work in washes and tints. Working with thicker media like undiluted oil paints and acrylics, you can readily make due with lower quality synthetic brushes that have the right spring force and shape, but if you use thin paints like watercolor and gouache, or thinned out washes of acrylic or oil paint, then the way a higher quality brush loads and dispenses this thinner paint is priceless to you.

Someone once said that the most important factor in the value of an artwork is its noticeability; it doesn't matter the reason for which it is noticed. That person was the creator of the font Comic Sans, and that's why he considers it a success (despite many people absolutely despising it).