There were 13,000 businesses in the wagon and carriage industry in 1890, Mr. Kinney said. A company survived not by conceiving of itself as being in the “personal transportation” business, but by commanding technological expertise relevant to the automobile, he said. “The people who made the most successful transition were not the carriage makers, but the carriage parts makers,” he said, some of whom are still in business.

via Digital Domain – NYTimes.com.

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1 Comment

  1. I believe this is posted as a paradigm to the image making industries of today. What or who would be the direct comparison to the carriage industry of 1890?

    Are image makers holding the comparable position of the 13,000 wainwrights?

    If that is true, who holds the role of “carriage parts makers” in today’s creative arts industries? Are these the equipment manufacturers, the software designers, the portfolio makers, the web builders, the web hosts, the graphic designers, the coaches & consultants, the seminar givers, the plug-in/action sellers, the authors… ?

    An interesting article on the last blacksmiths of Kosovo and other crafts:
    http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/features/22985/


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