The Corral
Florist Amanda Luu shaping a tall ikebana arrangement over a dining table, seen from above

ABOUT THE CORRAL

We're reviving the
artisan trades.

The Corral is the infrastructure for a slow renaissance. A curated home for the jobs, apprenticeships, and opportunities that keep handcraft alive. We believe craftwork should be a visible, viable career path, not a vanishing one.

EP 13 · AMANDA LUU, FLORIST

WHAT WE'RE BUILDING

Two halves of one mission.

The namesake corral: weathered hand-split rails in a clearing among the sugar pines, Lake Tahoe

THE CORRAL · LAKE TAHOE · ON FILM

INFRASTRUCTURE

The Corral

The first curated jobs board built for the artisan trades. We surface the roles, apprenticeships, residencies, and opportunities so makers can actually find them.

BROWSE OPPORTUNITIES  →
Architectural blacksmith Jefferson Mack at the forge, holding hot iron to the power hammer

EP 12 · JEFFERSON MACK AT THE FORGE

STORYTELLING

The Trades Show

An interview series filmed on location with modern artisans in their workshops. Every story is a way to amplify these crafts and the makers behind them.

VIEW THE SHOW  ↗

WHAT IS AN ARTISAN TRADE?

Artisanship lives in the overlap.

An artisan trade is like the center of a Venn diagram between the fine arts — artistry, design, an eye for aesthetics — and the skilled trades — technique, process, and hands-on experience. Craftwork is the overlap.

FINE ARTS

Artistry, design, and an eye for aesthetics.

THE OVERLAP

Craftwork

The artisan trades

SKILLED TRADES

Technique, process, and hands-on experience.

The old corral in the pines outside Lake Tahoe, shot on 35mm film

WHY “THE CORRAL”

Named after a real corral.

In the pines outside Lake Tahoe there's an old corral that Briana, The Corral's founder, grew up hiking to. It's still standing, albeit with some falling rails and weathered nails.

It was built as a gathering place (for working animals) at a time when hands-on work was all there was. It serves as the inspiration for The Corral, a gathering place for working hands rounding up artisan opportunities. These photographs were taken by the founder on film on a recent trip to the site of the inspiration.

35mm film — Lake Tahoe, CA

CRAFT & TECHNOLOGY

Built by technology in support of craft.

The Corral is proudly both-and. We believe technology should support and uplift craft, not replace it. The logo was hand-painted, the photography was shot on film or in a workshop, the design was sketched and then meticulously poured over by a human. AI is used for the tedious parts (finding, sorting, and translating scattered opportunities). It's using the most advanced tools we have to protect the most ancient work we do.

TECHNOLOGY HANDLES

The search

The automations

The busywork

ARTISANS KEEP

The craft and creativity

The judgment

The connections

HOW THE BOARD WORKS FOR ARTISANS

01

We find the work

An AI pipeline curates artisan jobs, apprenticeships, fellowships, residencies, and other opportunities all in one place to help make craftwork a career.

02

You find the right fit

Browse by trade and location directly on the board or we'll send you opportunities in a digest. Find what fits, and go straight to the source to apply.

03

Together, we build the next generation of craftworkers

With every match, we create the succession plan to carry on every one of these trades.

FROM THE TRADES SHOW

The stories behind the trades.

The Corral grew out of The Trades Show — our original interview series filmed in the workshops of working artisans. New conversations, on location, every other week.

EP 19: Made to outlive us, Pottery duo Sven CeramicsLATEST EPISODE

EP 19

Made to outlive us

Pottery duo Sven Ceramics

EARLIER EPISODES

Gilding the frame, from EP 17 with Master Gilder and Picture Framer Peter Werkhoven

EP 17

Servant to the Painting

Master Gilder and Picture Framer Peter Werkhoven

EP 14: Every Stitch Has a Purpose, Hermès-Trained Leather Artisan Béatrice Amblard

EP 14

Every Stitch Has a Purpose

Hermès-Trained Leather Artisan Béatrice Amblard

At the forge, from EP 12 with Architectural Blacksmith Jefferson Mack

EP 12

Antiques from the Future

Architectural Blacksmith Jefferson Mack

EP 11: Art of the Restaurant, James Beard Award-Winning Chef Stuart Brioza

EP 11

Art of the Restaurant

James Beard Award-Winning Chef Stuart Brioza

STILLS COMING

EP 02

EP 02

Craft Butchery Fights for Our Food System

Angela Wilson

WHAT WE STAND FOR

What we believe.

01

Craftsmanship — Build with the same integrity, precision, and beauty we seek to revive.

02

Accessibility — Open the gates to craftwork by making artisan pathways visible, viable, and attainable.

03

Connection — Create a living network between artisans, seekers, and workshops.

04

Innovation — Use modern technology and automation to support craftwork, never replace it.

Briana Ottoboni, founder of The Corral

Meet the founder

I started The Corral because it needed to exist (and didn't). I started The Trades Show to tell the stories of artisans and make their work more visible. While I believe storytelling is a powerful tool on its own, it needed infrastructure to not just amplify artisans, but build the pathway to craftwork as a career. Think of The Corral like the on-ramp to the artisan trades. It exists so that each and every one of these trades survives into the next generation.

— Briana Ottoboni · Founder

STAY IN THE LOOP

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Jobs, residencies, fellowships, and grants for makers — a curated roundup, delivered every other week. Free.