Blog

A couple of weeks ago I taught my first class in Paul’s workshop; a one-day introductory class to hand-tool woodworking with a focus in joinery – one of the pillars of the craft. The build-up to the class was rather long, as some may know if you read my post about the workbench I made some months back. Even so, there were a few things to work through, not least finding a time and place that wouldn’t hold up any of the other projects underway.

Although I never envisaged this, I have now been working in education for quite a number of years, most recently with my part-time work for Paul’s family business over the last 18 months, getting involved in different projects, all of which revolve around education. The main focus has been the revision of Paul’s first book, Working Wood, which is essentially Paul’s Foundational Course; a course tested by thousands of men and women over the years when Paul taught classes regularly, both here and in the US. His course is aimed at anyone, regardless of skill level/experience, who wishes to delve into the craft, and covers the essential to get started with a limited budget and available workspace. (Note that the limited budget is not Paul’s attempt to make the craft more accessible, but rather a particularity of the craft itself, as you will know already if you’ve followed him even for a short time.)

The class, which consisted in making the three essential woodworking joints, was based on Paul’s Foundational Course. Any future classes will do too, or at least they will all build upon this foundation which Paul laid. Of course, they will undergo certain changes regarding style, structure, etc., but the content itself cannot be disputed as it has proven to be extremely effective in achieving its objectives -namely taking complete beginners from never having picked up a saw to where they are confidently making a range of different projects in a relatively short space of time.

There is something tangibly different to a group of people who meet in-person to immerse themselves in the craft as opposed to what we mean by ‘online communities’, and this is irrespective of each individual’s background or prior experience with hand tools. I believe that this is especially important if we are to talk seriously about advancing the craft, and not merely repeating over and over again what could otherwise be found online with a few clicks. 

This may come across as a little pretentious to some, but frankly I see no future for these classes/school if it does not pick up from where Paul left it some time back to focus more on the scale side of his vision. Whatever path the classes end up taking, they must foremost be true to Paul’s passion and legacy to see the resurgence of the Craft. This is not merely to expand, reaching increasingly greater numbers across the globe, but also to see the Craft come alive and take root in some shape or other (yet to be defined) in today’s modern societies; traditional apprenticeships are out of the question (since we no longer have the trades in which they once took place), nor can we count on schools to preserve the craft (although they did make some efforts some decades back).

The new steward of the Craft; the New-Genre Artisan, as Paul brilliantly put it in the original version of his Foundational Course, will need a real context, a clear framework, a reality in which their Craft can develop and evolve; sustainably too – that is, without depending on subsidy for its survival. But finding or creating said context in the coming years will take men and women – makers who are also thinkers and who communicate with each other, working together for the future of the Craft.

This is what I believe the classes will ultimately work towards, since only a Craft School free from the Market’s influence (and with the powerful drive imparted by a craftsman like Paul Sellers) will provide the necessary vision and clarity for people of different backgrounds to share their insight and begin to trace new roads.

But for now, though, I will be organising more Introductory Classes from January 2023. You will find out more in coming weeks by checking Paul’s blog, but you can also sign up here to be notified when we finally put together the exact class dates.