A master craftsman or master tradesman (sometimes called only master or grandmaster, German: Meister) was a member of a guild. In the European guild system, only masters were allowed to be members of the guild.

An aspiring master would have to pass through the career chain from apprentice to journeyman before he could be elected to become a master craftsman. He would then have to produce a sum of money and a masterpiece before he could actually join the guild. If the masterpiece was not accepted by the masters, he was not allowed to join the guild, possibly remaining a journeyman for the rest of his life.

Originally, holders of the academic degree of "Master of Arts" were also considered, in the Medieval universities, as master craftsmen in their own academic field.

The Guild of Master Craftsmen continues a tradition established by the guilds of medieval Europe. The earliest of these were "frith" or "peace" guilds - groups bonded together for mutual protection following the breakdown of the kins, which were groups related by blood ties.

Bernard Rosenblum (1927 - 2007) was a Master Craftsman Gilder and Art Restorer of the National Museums, the successor of the workshop Gainerie (word with no English translation:”Leather Crafts Arts”) Bettenfeld. He was awarded the Medal of deportation and detention policies as well as Commander of the Order of Civic Education.

In 1940 he entered the School of Fine Arts d'Angers. Then in 1941, due to the emergency laws of the Vichy government, he was prohibited from all studies. At the end of the Second World War, at the great liberation, he successively discovered the craft of upholstering in the workshops Vial, Veil and Reperman in which he was employed as a foreman, but he found that the saddle and leather work was just a technical and commercial transaction. A little disillusioned, he abandoned, for a time, the craft of leatherwork.^{[citation needed]}

Having a strong attraction for the arts, especially painting and sculpture, he became a pupil of Alberto Giacometti and Emmanuel Mane-Katz, during the golden era of Montparnasse. A family friend, who was an upholsterer, entrusted to him in 1960 the work of restoration of leather antiques, allowing him to make a living during this period in Montparnasse. He rediscovered leather and fell in love with its history. At that time he was to begin a research on leather and leather goods, in museums and libraries, which would never cease throughout his life.

After starting as an associate of Guru of Gang Starr (he made a rare rapping appearance on Guru's Jazzmatazz, Vol. 2 project and his only released solo track ever, "Who's The Truest" appeared on a Guru sampler CD which also included "Hi-Energy", a song he produced for Fabidden), True Master joined up with the Wu-Tang and was mentored by RZA before gradually increasing his profile with standout tracks on Wu-Tang albums ("Brooklyn Zoo", "Heaterz", "Fish"). He was to become extremely prolific and a crucial member of the Wu-Tang production crew during its busy 1997–2000 period. He has generally adhered to the traditional Wu-Tang sound, while the group's original main producer RZA ventured into cleaner, "Digital" territory with a limited use of samples and the inclusion of synthesizers and live instrumentation. True Master briefly tried his hand at more compositional keyboard-based productions in lieu of his signature sample-based style on the Gravediggaz album Nightmare in A Minor. He is current working on his debut album "Master Craftsman" that will feature Wu Tang members and Killa Beez & recently released a collaboration album with veteran MC KRS-One called Meta-Historical.