Issue 14 · Studio Craft

A journal about how objects actually get made

Renzorodriguez follows furniture workshops in Johannesburg, ceramicists in Cape Town and textile printers in Durban. Long-form profiles, process photography and tool lists, written for design students, working makers and anyone who wants to know what happens between a rough beam and a finished table.

Each issue pairs studio visits with practical notes on sourcing local timber, clay and fabric, plus honest talk about pricing, materials and running a practice without outside backing.

Read the current issue About the journal

Have a studio story worth telling? Send it in.

What this journal is, and what it is not

A few working definitions, so nobody arrives expecting the wrong thing. These apply to every issue, profile and archive entry we publish.

Independent, not sponsored: We take no payment from the studios we cover, and no brand pays for placement inside a profile. Where a maker mentions a supplier or a tool, it is because they use it, not because anyone asked them to.
Studio visits, not press releases: Every long-form piece comes out of time spent in the workshop, usually across more than one day. We photograph the process as it happens, including the failed glaze tests and the offcuts nobody cleans up before a shoot.
Numbers are reported, not estimated: When a maker talks about material costs, kiln time or market stall fees, those figures come from their own records. We do not round them into ranges or smooth over the parts that did not work out.
Regional focus, wider frame: Most issues start in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, because that is where we can travel and sit with people. Work from elsewhere appears when we can report it properly rather than at a distance.
Archive stays as published: Older issues are not rewritten when a studio closes, changes direction or moves premises. Corrections are noted at the foot of the piece, and the original text stays where readers found it.
Submissions are read by people: A studio story sent to us lands with an editor, not a form. We reply either way, though it can take a few weeks when an issue is in production. Pitches about a specific process tend to travel further than general introductions.

If something here reads differently from how you understood it, write to info@renzorodriguez.com or call 035-712-8584. We would rather clarify a definition than leave it open to interpretation.

Next step

Start with the issue that fits your bench

If you work with timber, clay or cloth, the archive is where the useful parts live: tool lists, sourcing notes, firing logs and the numbers behind small-run production. Pick a workshop story close to your own materials and read it end to end before you plan your next batch.

New to the journal? The about page explains how issues are put together and who we follow.

Read about the journal

Browse the archive

Have a studio worth documenting? Send us the story.

Questions we get from readers and makers

Short answers to the things people ask most often before they subscribe, pitch a studio visit, or send in a story.

How often does a new issue come out?

We publish two issues a year, usually in late March and late September. Between issues we post shorter studio notes and exhibition write-ups, so the archive keeps moving even when the print run is quiet.

Can I pitch a studio or a maker for a profile?

Yes, and we prefer it that way. Send a short note with the studio name, city, what they make, and one or two photos of the workspace. We read everything, but we only follow up when there is a real process story behind the work, not just a finished product shot.

Do you cover makers outside South Africa?

Most of our reporting sits in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, but we run profiles from elsewhere when the process is specific enough to be useful. A workshop in Nairobi or Lisbon gets the same treatment as one in Braamfontein if the sourcing, tools and constraints are worth documenting.

What do you look for in a story?

Materials, methods and the unglamorous parts: how timber is dried, how glaze tests fail, how a print run gets priced. We are less interested in a polished brand narrative and more interested in how the work actually gets made, including the mistakes.

How do I reach the editorial team?

Write to info@renzorodriguez.com or call 035-712-8584. For post and studio visits, our address is 2845 Ntombela Heights, Masangoview, NC 8007. If your question is about how we handle submissions or reader data, the details live on our privacy page.

Still unsure where to start? The contact page has the full editorial calendar and pitch guidelines.