Page 53 - The Hunt - Summer 2024

of retiring soon. “It’s still fun. I get to
make amazing furniture and meet a lot of neat people,” says Mooberry. “When I call somebody on the phone, they’re always glad to hear from me.”
There are places where you can learn
the basics of the woodworking. Challenge Program Furniture in Wilmington describes itself as “a social enterprise that makes handcrafted furniture for restaurant, office, retail and residential clients.” It also does furniture restoration. “We’ve been in business for 10 years, and we have six trainees each year,” says Andrew McKnight, CP Furniture’s founder and executive director.
Graduates don’t necessarily go into furniture making, though they often go
into carpentry or construction. “We don’t do anything fancy like woodcarving,” McKnight says. “But we do have our own sawmill.”
And younger generations love custom- made furniture. “I’m always booked two to three months out,” Mooberry says. “People
once thought that if you weren’t booked out two or three years, you must not be any good. Now, after Amazon, people want instant gratification—even with handcrafted furniture.”
look like folded blankets.”
In Read’s hands, a table becomes a flat mesa
perched atop branches growing up from tree roots. A chest is a blend of textured dark and blond woods, with paneled doors flowing in three dimensions. “I probably use curving chisels more than other craftsmen do,” he admits. “However, I’m not a big believer in using exotic woods.”
Read asks for plenty of input from clients. “We start with pictures,” he says. “Often,
I’ll meet them at their house to see where it will be going. I’ve never had an assistant or apprentice, although my son sometimes helps me.”
And Read is also a huge fan of the
source of his creations. “I do love trees,” he says. “I take an hour to walk in the woods every day.”
Visit kinlochwoodworking.com, cpfurniture.org, blackburnfurniture.com, imoshenstudio.com, amishhandcrafted.com and bokreadwoodworking.com.
B
ok Read acknowledges that he’s a horrible businessman. “Most of
my business is friends of friends, although recently it’s become friends of friends of friends.”
A retired chemistry and physics teacher
and former coach at Penncrest High School
in Media, Read is also a third-generation furniture-maker. He even built the house he lives in. Read’s creations are as much sculptural as they are functional. He’s been in dozens of art and furniture shows, and his “swooping” pieces wouldn’t look out of place in a museum catalog. The footboards of one bed are interlocking panels, fluid like an ocean’s waves. “Beds are the most fun,” Read says. “The heads and the footboards have no functions—they are just wood. So I sometimes shape them to
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