PUBLICATION DATE:
July 29, 2026
Handwork
Handcrafted Objects that Made America
Edited by Emily Zaiden, with a foreword by Carol Sauvion
An engaging and essential portrait of America through surprising, overlooked, everyday, and iconic handmade objects crafted over more than 250 years.
Handwork: Handcrafted Objects that Made America is a visually stunning, deeply inspiring celebration of America’s spirit through ordinary, surprising, and overlooked handcrafted objects spanning more than 250 years. The official book of Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026—Craft in America’s yearlong, nationwide initiative marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence featuring hundreds of museum exhibitions and events, a four-part PBS docuseries, and specially designed educational components—Handwork is essential reading for anyone curious about American history, design, material culture, or craft.
Edited by Emily Zaiden, director and lead curator of the Craft in America Center, with a foreword by Carol Sauvion, the visionary behind the Peabody Award– winning PBS series Craft in America, Handwork takes readers on a journey through time and across the multiplicity of cultures that have made America, uncovering the powerful stories behind objects that shaped American life. The book groups handmade objects into four curated sections—DWELL, FEED, FURNISH, ADORN—and highlights objects that reflect innovation, resistance, artistry, and community, from a nineteenth-century Kiowa cradleboard to an antique Hawaiian papa he’enalu (surfboard) and a prototype for an iconic sneaker.
Handwork includes illuminating texts from nearly 30 experts nationwide that accompany each object, emphasizing overlooked narratives and the underrepresented artists who helped define American life through their craft. Contemporary makers featured throughout show how craft traditions live on, a testament to the human ingenuity that continues to shape American culture. An introduction by Zaiden also speaks to her editorial approach, “placing on equal footing the everyday and ordinary, the overlooked and disregarded, and the exceptional and acclaimed.”
With vibrant full-color photography, an engaging layout, and a thorough, inclusive approach, Handwork is as captivating and eye-opening as the objects and artists it celebrates.
About the Authors
Emily Zaiden is director and curator of the Craft in America Center in Los Angeles where she has organized over eighty multidisciplinary contemporary art, craft, and design exhibitions for the center and partner museum venues. Zaiden oversees public programs, a K-12 education initiative, and digital projects, including the creation of the online Craft Video Dictionary. Her research focuses on craft processes, materiality, functional design, and cultural art, particularly from a historical lens. Zaiden has an M.A. from the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture.
Carol Sauvion is an American crafts scholar and creator of the Peabody Award–winning PBS series Craft in America. Sauvion was the founding director of Craft in America and for over forty-five years was the director of Freehand, her Los Angeles gallery specializing in functional craft.
About Monacelli
As a leading publisher of illustrated books for more than twenty-five years, Monacelli has challenged the conventions of publishing to produce provocative, inspiring, and essential titles. Founded in 1994 by Gianfranco Monacelli, the organization has released nearly 600 books on architecture, art, interior design, landscape and gardens, photography, and the applied arts. Monacelli’s books have been made in collaboration with prominent practitioners and scholars ever since its inaugural title, the groundbreaking S,M,L,XL by Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau. In 2015, the applied arts imprint Monacelli Studio was launched, adding elevated books on art instruction, photography technique, and crafts to the publisher’s roster. In 2020, Monacelli joined the Phaidon family of companies.