" Das Neue Ständebuch "

A Book of Trades for the Jobs Jost Amman Never Met — 2026

Project Brief -

In 1568, Jost Amman documented the trades of his time in workshop woodcuts, accompanied by verses. I found five of his 1568 woodcuts in the Wellcome Collection, all marked Public Domain Mark, and used them to train a custom Recraft V4 Style. I used that historical visual language to recast jobs Amman could never have imagined—delivery riders, screen repairers, data labelers, content moderators, server technicians, scooter mechanics, streamers and prompt writers—as if they belonged in his 16th-century guild book. The nine vertical plates follow one consistent book-like format with workshop scenes and four-line verses, while five modern trades answer five archive images one-to-one. The book closes with “The Offline Hour,” where the workers put their phones aside and share a loaf.

Recraft Project -

Full nine-plate collection: https://www.recraft.ai/project/d5e02324-4dbd-40c9-be2e-ccfd75804d36

Custom Recraft Style

Amman Book of Trades 1568 — Recraft V4: https://www.recraft.ai/styles/df144824-6b87-499e-bb4c-38dcad025f4b

Archive References

All five original woodcuts are by Jost Amman, published in 1568, and listed by the Wellcome Collection with the Public Domain Mark.

The Mirror Maker — Wellcome Collection, Ref. 34955i The Paper Maker — Wellcome Collection, Ref. 34956i The Hatters — Wellcome Collection, Ref. 34931i The Brewer — Wellcome Collection, Ref. 34958i

The Lantern Maker — Wellcome Collection, Ref. 34953i

Social Post Links -

INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/p/DfHsRGlDbiU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&dlrf=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&srtk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== X / Twitter - https://x.com/SeemaThorve/status/2116162915938250916?a=j7wtCH9QRWMcapk2ShQ&s=20 LINKEDIN - https://lnkd.in/p/dCWuV4HB

#ArchiveStyleChallenge #RecraftStylesChallenge #RecraftAI #DigitalIllustration #AIArt #WoodcutArt #HistoricalArt #VintageArt #VisualStorytelling #EditorialIllustration #GenerativeArt #CreativeDesign #ArtDirection #PublicDomainArt #DasNeueStändebuch @recraftai #recraftstyleschallenge @Contra HQ