Kaili knows how much I want to believe that U.S. manufacturing is not dead. He sent me this example from Wired magazine — a story about the making of Statue of Liberty souvenirs.
Wired‘s Liz Stinson reports that of the many souvenirs you see in New York, most “come from overseas where they’re stamped out on machine-driven assembly lines. But a select batch—the ones you can buy on Ellis Island—were made in the United States, right here in New York City, with actual human hands.
“Colbar Art in Long Island City, Queens, creates prototype and custom molds, castings and original artwork, but the factory is most well known for being one of the largest producers of Statue of Liberty figurines in the world, and one of the last in the United States. …
“Ovidiu Colea’s story is the focus of a recent mini-doc made by NYC-based videographer Rebecca Davis.
“Davis, a video journalist at NBC, documented the Colbar Art crew during their daily routine of making statues, and it’s surprisingly fascinating to watch. ‘Growing up, one thing that had a lasting impression on my memory were the Mr. Rogers episodes where they’d go to the crayon factory and show you how the crayons were made,’ she explains. ‘I wanted to see from start to finish how these statues, as New Yorkers we see all over the place, how they come into being.’ ” Me, too.
More.
Rebecca Davis’s charming video, found at http://narrative.ly/meet-your-maker/the-liberty-factory/, captures the Romanian craftsman’s pride in his work and in workers who come from all over the world.
I apologize that the embed code doesn’t work. I wanted to put the video here.
http://www.wired.com/design/2013/08/watch-where-your-favorite-nyc-souvenirs-come-from/
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