Woodworking and Crafting

written by Kyle Lee
@KyleSmileStudio

Did your parents or relatives ever take shop class? My guess is that your school, like many others in the US, no longer offers any form of shop class. This makes learning woodworking a daunting skill and hobby to pick up these days. But by just learning the basics, a whole new world of creativity is opened to you

How I got into woodworking

I knew I wasn’t going to be an academic kid growing up. I got by studying for my tests, but never found myself relishing in that mode of thinking. On the flip side, I enjoyed being creative but fine arts, painting, and music were also not for me. It wasn’t until high school where I first took shop and architecture classes where I couldn’t stop myself from falling into creative flow states. Next thing you know, I’m studying Product Design in college, building physical prototypes, helping students with their projects, and crafting furniture.

Me in the shop

Why I enjoy it

To me, woodworking has been the perfect combination of creativity and practical thinking. When things aren’t working out and I’m scratching my head trying to figure out why, I feel like I am solving a complex puzzle made for adults. Other times, I feel like an expressive sculptor, sanding, shaping, and allowing new forms to emerge. These many modes of thinking and feeling keep me returning to the craft of woodworking.

As a product and service designer, there’s another reason I enjoy woodworking. In design school and in my day to day product designer life, I am constantly creating concepts, mockups, and other imitations for real things. It’s often not until months (if not years) later that the actual thing is built and I can see people’s reaction to things. As impactful as that long development process is, one of my favorite things about woodworking is seeing people’s immediate physical reaction to what I made. Instead of reacting distantly behind a digital screen, they’re walking up to the piece, sitting in it, shifting their weight around in it, leaning back in it, moving around it in the room. It is immensely satisfying seeing people physically react to something you made in physical space.

Benefits of Woodworking

Woodworking enables you to be a creative problem solver. Most of the time you are creatively trying to tie the vision in your head to the tools at your disposal. Becoming a woodworker will not only provide you practical tool skills (which are very handy for general house work) but you also adopt a confident can-do experimental mindset eager for anything. Furthermore, the ability to shape your physical environment is empowering. Can’t find the exact table online to fit your unique apartment? Need something practical but also expressive and evokes a sense of peace? These are closer to your fingertips than you think.

Starting your journey

Woodworking can be daunting with many tools, materials, and techniques to learn. Luckily, every aspect of woodworking is ubiquitous; it is truly everywhere from the tables you sit at, the cabinets in your kitchen, to the frames in your walls. I recommend finding a beginner woodworking class. An in person teacher will make learning hands-on skills much easier. Once you feel comfortable with the basics, YouTube is a great place to add to your arsenal. Do personal projects as an opportunity to learn something new.