In this moving account, Peter Korn explores the nature and
rewards of creative practice. We follow his search for meaning as an
Ivy-educated child of the middle class who finds employment as a novice
carpenter on Nantucket, transitions to self-employment as a designer and maker of
fine furniture, takes a turn at teaching and administration at Colorado’s
Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and then founds a school in Maine: the Center
for Furniture Craftsmanship, an internationally respected nonprofit
institution.
Furniture making practiced as a craft in the twenty-first
century is a decidedly marginal occupation. Yet the view from the periphery
can be illuminating. For Korn the challenging work of bringing something new
and meaningful into the world through one’s own volition—whether in the arts,
the kitchen, or the marketplace—is what generates the meaning and fulfillment that so many of us seek.
This is not a how-to book in any sense. Korn wants to get
at the why of craft in particular and the satisfactions of creative work in
general to understand their essential nature. How does the making of objects
shape our identities? How do the products of creative work inform society? In
short, what does the process of making things reveal to us about ourselves?
Korn draws on four decades of hands-on experience to answer these questions
eloquently, and often poignantly, in this personal, introspective, and revealing
book.
Download and start listening now!