Our furniture maker is the Barefoot Woodworker, a professional woodworker with a minor aversion to shoes. He was fortunate enough to have studied under a Master Artisan who was trained in an apprenticeship in the famous Black Forest in Germany. (Black Forest woodworkers and clock makers were renowned for their precision clocks. Cuckoo clocks have been made in the region since the early eighteenth century and much of their development occurred there. Excessive logging and two World Wars have reduced the population of the Black Forest and its renowned woodworkers to a mere fraction of what once was, making their distinguished skills both scarce and valuable.) Barefoot’s education by this truly gifted Artisan has lead to a passion for the superior, and almost forgotten, construction methods of the past. He possesses an affinity for hand tools and traditional joinery that most others in this field no longer know about, let alone use. He has also developed a love and comprehensive knowledge of hidden catches and secret compartments. In an industry bombarded with new machinery designed for shortcuts, he is pursuing the Master Woodworker level via traditional methods.

The Barefoot Woodworker’s love of these superior old-world methods, combined with a tendency to build every piece to be strong enough to withstand being danced on for a hundred years, has generated a great sense of trust and respect for his work among both customers and our local and online communities. Tips, progress photos and articles posted on our Barefoot Woodworker blog, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds have begun to establish Barefoot as an expert for the online community. Some of our projects and videos have begun to show great viral potential, often being shared, tweeted and re-pinned.

The Barefoot Woodworker is also working on his Master’s Project. Historically, a Master Woodworker was someone who had gone through an apprenticeship, at the end of which he must create a project that was reviewed for approval by an existing Master. Like many other aspects of the history of this industry, our woodworker holds a high regard for this process. His project began in 2010 with him cutting down and milling a tree. The whole project will primarily be made with hand tools and will ultimately be reviewed by some of the only remaining Master Woodworkers. You can read more about this unique process here: http://barefootwoodworker.blogspot.com.