This post is part of a blog series revealing the table of contents of upcoming Issue Seventeen. As is our custom, we’ll be discussing one article per weekday in order to give you a taste of what is to come.
The subscription window that includes Issue Seventeen is open now.
To get Issue Seventeen when it ships in early October, you can sign up for a subscription here.
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Andrew Hunter – ”Finding a Path”
How do you figure out what kind of woodworker you want to be? Who do you follow after, and what tradition do you pursue? Where do you find inspiration – what do you want to make? These kinds of questions occupy anyone who decides to acquire skills in woodworking, and finding the answers can be harder than it seems.
In Issue Seventeen, author and furniture maker Andrew Hunter tells his story. Once on a clearly laid path to becoming a scientist, he built a set of shelves during his senior year of college and everything changed. Instead of studying genetics or cellular structure, Hunter was convinced that he wanted to spend his life making furniture. Drawn to the beauty and engagement of hand tools, he used his scientific training to research methods, adapt, and learn new skills. Stumbling across Japanese woodworking tradition, he was hooked, and began adopting the tools and methods as his own.
But learning techniques from a way of working so different from Hunter’s Western context was not easy. Some Japanese practices, such as working on the floor, had to be modified because, in his words, “I had spent too many years sitting in chairs.” But the mindfulness, discipline, and beautiful elements of the tradition clicked perfectly with who Hunter was as a person and woodworker. He was able to find his path, and has never regretted the radical change from where he once was headed.
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