This has been around for a while, but if you haven’t seen it, it’s well worth a look. Korean teenager Dong Woo Jang –  whose previous hobbies included studying spider anatomy – started making bows as a hobby, and gave a brief (8 minute) TED talk on the subject. Watch it here:

http://www.ted.com/talks/dong_woo_jang_the_art_of_bow_making.html

His handmade take on a traditional Korean bow shoots pretty well, but the more interesting aspects are unfortunately only glanced upon; the exploration of cultural heritage, the creation-as-escapism from a difficult ‘pressure cooker’ environment, and the hazily interesting idea of a ‘bowtopia’.  But the diagrams are beautiful, and the fetishisation of the axes and blades cheerily worrying. Teenagers, eh? Great stuff.

There’s a good list of more ‘handmade’ TED talk stuff here.