My Woodworking Career
It all started while studying Typography at Kutztown University, PA
For the final project of the semester, our assignment was to incorporate typography in a creative way. I started with a cigar box, sanded off the previous branding and burned the word ‘Boston’ into the wood.
The project changed the course of my career.
I began personally engraving cigar boxes for friends. Each cigar box had the same process - sanding, sketching, carving, burning and finishing - it was a rhythm I fell into. I immensely enjoyed the process and fell in love with the contrast of the burned typography.
Shorty after college
I moved to Asheville, and began seeing opportunities to gain woodworking experience. I walked into Harvest House, a Recreational Senior Citizen Center, found their woodshop, and signed up for the class starting the next day. The teacher, Bob Hasse, became my mentor and guided me through my early woodworking years. I learned fundamentals, such as how to use a hand plane and table saw. It was an unconventional and unforgettable experience. Through this community, I not only gained woodworking fundamentals, but I made great friends. I was lucky to have Lee, Bob, Bill, and Roger as some of my first friends in Asheville.
Windthrow originally began in 2013 as a “custom wood” company
After a year or two of using Cigar boxes as my canvas, I began making my own wooden boxes and sculptures. This gave me more freedom with my designs and allowed me to advance my woodworking knowledge. I took on more custom projects. I would regularly incorporate letter carving and illustration techniques into my designs. Between woodworking classes, I used hand-tools at home and rode my skateboard back and forth to the shop to master the machinery.
I then pursued a dream job building wooden chairs under a Master Craftsman.
It was at that job, with Brian Boggs, that I studied how a master designs with wood. I learned how to sharpen the most incredible hand tools and use them proficiently. But, the 10,000 square foot woodshop had much more than small hand tools. I befriended huge, pre-war machines, and had them complete complex tasks with extreme accuracy. I built ladder backs, sculpted fan backs and outdoor furniture, and became the Lead Craftsman of the Sonus/Lilly department.
At the same time in 2015, Windthrow joined the Judaica world through illustrating and writing custom ketubot (Jewish marriage certificates). I enjoyed the design and artistic process, and so for a short time, the business moved away from woodworking and into watercolor. I was spending all day in the wood shop, and then I would then come home and create elegant, paper ketubah designs. It was thrilling to be honing my skills in two different artistic realms.
In 2018, I put all my efforts into Windthrow
When I left the woodshop to pursue Windthrow full-time (which was solely a custom ketubah company at the time), I found myself missing woodworking immensely. To help ease the nostalgia, we added a few wooden pieces to our collection of mostly paper ketubah designs. That’s when Windthrow began to move closer to its original woodworking roots. With the 700 square foot wood shop, it has been a dream to design and explore, particulary with the combination of walnut & brass. I also continue to immensely enjoy the process of engraving typography & illustration into wood.
