My Story...

The first thing I ever made out of wood was a small box. It was made of plywood, nailed together with hinges from the local hardware store. I made it with my grandfather on the front porch one dusty East Carolina summer day. The edge of the low porch was a seat for him - he was a tall man. But for me, at five or six, the ends of the old floor boards just hanging over the edge of a rough beam were a work bench. That was my first tool box. I'm sure my grandfather did most of it, but I was proud of that little box and I continued to make things out of wood for the rest of my life. When they would come home from town, my treat was often a paper bag of 8 penny nails for me to terrorize the stock of siding planks and tobacco slats with.

Since then, that love of joining two pieces of wood together has only gotten stronger, though it is more informed now. We moved away from the farm when I was 11, and there was much less opportunity for woodwork as other concerns moved in... high school, first jobs, college. Time went by but eventually I came back to it - to try to impress a girl. It was a little jewelry box, again made of plywood but this time I did all the work. And it must have come out ok in some way other than the joinery - it's now holding earrings again in our daughter's room almost 25 years later.

Soon after college, I made my first complete piece of hardwood furniture - a bed. A friend of my parents was the first mentor I had in fine carpentry. It was simple four poster but it was ours and we loved it. We still have it. 

Over these past 20 years or so, wood working has been a hobby, a profession and a creative outlet. At some point, like so many other woodworkers, I discovered the work of James Krenov, Sam Maloof, George & Mira Nakashima. And like so many other woodworkers, it was a revelation to me. All of a sudden, woodworking wasn't just a hobby or a job. It was transformed into an art, living within a tradition. It became something that could be studied and that was when my love of woodworking came together with my undergraduate education in philosophy and art. Discovering that world of thoughtful craft brought together a set of threads that had seemed separate - western philosophy, a love of design, rough farm carpentry and appreciation of natural materials.

And so now, over 35 years after that first little box, I'm still making things out of wood. I'd love it if the next one was for you.

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~Grant Shivelight