In an era where artificial intelligence is reshaping supermarkets, doctors' surgeries, and farms, one painstaking, centuries-old trade remains a stubbornly human fortress. The art of hand-engraving the copper plates used to create luxury, bespoke stationery has proven impervious to automation, yet it now faces a more human crisis: the struggle to find new apprentices willing to master its razor-thin margins for error.
A Craft Defined by Human Hands
At the heart of this disappearing skill is Crane Stationery, the 200-year-old American firm whose engraved creations have ranged from invitations for the Statue of Liberty to personalised correspondence for celebrities like Jimmy Fallon. The process involves carving intricate text and patterns directly into copper using specialised hand tools, a practice where a mistake narrower than a human hair can ruin days of meticulous work.
Today, the company employs only about a dozen engravers, with at least one expected to retire this year. This is a stark decline from just two decades ago, when its workforce was twice as large. The threat is not AI or robots, but the immense challenge of persuading people to commit to learning a skill of such exacting precision.
The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection
The training is notoriously demanding and lengthy. Apprentices at Crane may spend an entire year mastering the application of a single colour before progressing to more complex designs. They stand for up to eight hours a day operating antique presses, manually refining lines initially etched by laser and constantly adjusting for variables like humidity, temperature, and the quirks of machinery that can be over a century old.
Each colour in a design requires its own separate copper plate. If even one shade is misaligned – sometimes by a degree invisible to the naked eye – the entire batch must be scrapped and the process started anew. This relentless demand for perfection has a high attrition rate; only about half of the apprentices who start Crane’s training programme ultimately succeed, with many quitting or failing to meet the company's exacting standards.
Modest Rewards for a Master Craft
Financially, the rewards are modest for a craft that takes years to perfect. Engraving apprentices start at $18.50 an hour, and even with quarterly bonuses, newly certified engravers earn up to approximately $60,000 a year. Recognising the issue, CEO Robert Buhler, a self-taught engraver who took an ownership stake in 2024, has made efforts to improve conditions. He raised pay across the company by about 14% and increased senior engravers' wages by more than 20%, alongside enhancing health benefits and reimbursing commuting costs.
"If you have a desire to print, saddle up – you have a job at Crane," Buhler told the Wall Street Journal, highlighting that every new hire starts with no experience. In theory, anyone could do it. In practice, as Buhler notes, to be a Crane engraver, "you have to live in a state of perfection every single day." Very few are willing to endure the rigorous apprenticeship this demands.
The Wider Crisis and Business Impact
The shortage is not confined to Crane. According to the International Engraved Graphics Association, just over 300 trained engravers, or 'presspeople', are working in the entire United States today. The business impact is already being felt. Last holiday season, Crane was forced to end sales two weeks early after running out of available engravers to complete orders.
The company itself has navigated a rocky period, cutting around 200 jobs during its pandemic relocation from Massachusetts to the Albany, New York area, and facing uncertainty when its parent company was sold to an Italian firm in early 2024. Under Buhler's leadership, the now 72-employee firm is planning another round of raises, but the fundamental challenge remains: attracting new hands to preserve a delicate art that modern technology cannot replicate.
