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Peter Korn

Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman Paperback – Illustrated, March 31 2015

by Peter Korn (Author)

4.3 381 ratings

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A must-read for the craftsperson, artisan and artist. “In his beautiful book, Peter Korn invites us to understand craftsmanship as an activity that connects us to others, and affirms what is best in ourselves.”―Matthew Crawford, author of Shop Class as Soulcraft

Woodworking, handicrafts ―the rewards of creative practice, bringing something new and meaningful into the world through one’s own vision, make us fully alive. Peter Korn explains 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/maker of fine furniture, takes a turn at teaching at Colorado’s Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and finally founds a school in Maine: the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, an internationally respected, non-profit institution.

How does the making of objects shape our identities? How does creative work enrich our communities and society? What does the process of making things reveal to us about ourselves? Korn poignantly probes for answers in this book that is for the artist, artisan, crafter, do-it-yourselfer inside us all.

Print length

176 pages
Language

English
Publisher

David R. Godine, Publisher
Publication date

March 31 2015
Dimensions

15.24 x 1.52 x 22.61 cm
ISBN-10

1567925464
ISBN-13

978-1567925463
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Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman by Peter Korn	The Hand of the Small Town Builder: Vernacular Summer Architecture in New England, 1870-1935 by W. Tad Pfeffer	Monadnock Summer: The Architectural Legacy of Dublin, New Hampshire by Wiliam Morgan

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“The style of Peter Korn’s lovely, patient and fastidious ode to craft, Why We Make Things and Why It Matters, mirrors the technical precision and style he has used in his career as a furniture maker and teacher.”―The New York Times

“In his beautiful book, Peter Korn invites us to understand craftsmanship as an activity that connects us to others, and affirms what is best in ourselves.”―Matthew Crawford, author of Shop Class as Soulcraft

“An uplifting title for artisans, novice or skilled, who will benefit from the ideas of a kindred spirit.”―Library Journal

“Peter Korn’s brilliant new book resonates with me as a visual artist in a profound way. I share his passion for craft and admire his ability to take a plank of wood and fashion anything he sets his mind to. Throughout the centuries, furniture makers and painters have shared a set of belief systems centered on craft. The pleasure and calm that I get as a painter fashioning a complicated work from colored dirt on canvas is, I believe, the same pleasure and peace that Peter Korn and his students get as craftsmen.”―Chuck Close

From the Back Cover

In this moving account, 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/maker of fine furniture, takes a turn at teaching and administration at Colorado's Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and finally founds a school in Maine: the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, an internationally respected, non-profit institution.

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.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ David R. Godine, Publisher; Illustrated edition (March 31 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1567925464
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1567925463
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 318 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 1.52 x 22.61 cm

Best Sellers Rank: #414,655 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,135 in Consciousness & Thought (Books)
- #15,922 in Memoirs (Books)
- #37,590 in Home & Garden (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.3 381 ratings

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Peter Korn

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PETER KORN is the founder and former Executive Director of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, a non-profit woodworking and design school in Rockport, Maine. A furniture maker since 1974, his work has been exhibited nationally in galleries and museums. Born in 1951, Korn grew up in Philadelphia, where he attended Germantown Friends School. He majored in history at the University of Pennsylvania. More information is available at www.peterkorn.com

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

381 global ratings

5 star		60%
4 star		21%
3 star		13%
2 star		3%
1 star		3%

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Ty Schultz

A celebration of craft

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 3, 2021

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This personal journey is a fabulous and enlightening exploration of craft and creative thought. Much more than a book about making furniture.

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Mackenzie

Some insight but not a lot of depth.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on October 26, 2018

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More biography of the author with some insight but not as much depth as expected after reading book description. Would not recommend.

One person found this helpful

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Bricomani57

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 22, 2018

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Excellent livre

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 14, 2016

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Great book

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Robert Morris

How and why the creative effort "is a process of challenging embedded narratives in order to...."

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 18, 2014

Peter Korn poses an intriguing question: "Why do we choose the spiritually, emotionally, and physically demanding work of brining new objects into the world with creativity and skill?" This book is his extended response to that question. After completing his academic assignments for the University of Pennsylvania, he embarked on what became a journey of discovery during which two epiphanies occurred. (More about them later.) "My intuition from the first day I picked up a hammer was that making things with a commitment to quality would lead to a good life." In this book, he retraces the steps of his journey "with reference to larger frameworks - historical, sociological, psychological, and biological - to discover how and why that intuition turned out to be valid."

His readers tag along with him from Nantucket Island to Frederick (Maryland) to New York City and then Philadelphia before relocating (again) to the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village (Colorado) for which he served for the six years as Program Director before finally founding (in 1992) the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport (Maine). Along the way, he published Woodworking Basics: Mastering the Essentials of Craftsmanship (Taunton Press, 2003) and The Woodworker's Guide to Hand Tools (Taunton Press, 1998). Why We Make Things and Why it Matters is his third book. And along the way, he was stricken by cancer and struggled with personal losses best described by him,

With regard to the aforementioned epiphanies, the first occurred in November (1984) when he had been hard at work on a cradle: "After three days of intense focus, cold, and solitude, the cradle is complete -- a miraculous birth in its own right. I have somehow transform benign intent into a beautiful functional object. This is my moment on the road to Demascus. I am overtaken by the most unexpected passion." (Page 28).

The second epiphany occurred in 1991 during his sixth year at Anderson Ranch. By way of background, he explains that he had previously composed an artist's statement, one that included a sentence that brought his emerging ideas into focus. It read: My own values became clear when I eventually realized that the words I used to describe my aesthetic goals as a furniture maker -- integrity, simplicity, and grace -- also described the person I sought to grow into through the practice of craftsmanship." (Page 102) That sentence was his second epiphany.

While re-reading the book in preparation to compose this brief commentary, I was again reminded of similar experiences that James Joyce describes in several of his letters and short stories as well as in Portrait of the Artist as a Young m Man. Of course, I have no idea whether or not Korn had Joyce and his work in mind when sharing this especially significant moment during his own development. Be that as it may, his transition from carpenter to craftsman is near complete, with details best revealed within the narrative, in context.

What's my take? Of greatest interest and value to me is what Peter Korn has to say about how he "found his way in the world" by committing himself to (as Richard Sennett expressed it) "doing something well, for its own sake." Consider this brief excerpt from Creativity in which Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi observes: "To achieve the kind of world we consider human, some people had to dare to break the thrall of tradition, Next, they had to find ways of recording those new ideas or procedures that improved on what went on before. Finally, they had to find ways of transmitting the new knowledge to generations to come. Those who were involved in this process we call creative. What we call culture, or those parts of ourselves that we internalized from the social environment, is their creation."

For Korn, these "essential" observations by Sennett and Csikszentmihalyi ring true: "There is great satisfaction to be found in work that engages one as an end in itself." His experiences can be described in many different ways. He found his calling, he found himself, he found his True North...all quite correct.

For me, the key to understanding the experiences that Korn discusses, many of which resemble our own, is to think of how he created a good life as well as a successful career. He and countless others have learned through their own experiences that what they love to do, what they most enjoy, is probably what they do best, despite challenges and setbacks along the way. "And so it is. As a maker you put one foot in front of the other and you own the journey. Finding creative passion that governs your life may be a curse as well as a blessing, but I would not trade it for anything else I know."

One final point: It will come as no surprise to those who are already familiar with Peter Korn’s art and craftsmanship that he complements his lean and effective prose with preliminary sketches and then photographs of some of his creations, illustrations that are of superior quality. They bring his story to life in ways and to an extent words alone cannot. Bravo!

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Nick Henley

A wonderful book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 18, 2023

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This little book is for anyone who has made things or wants to make things. The author is a furniture maker, but that is not important, as it's about the compulsion to make the world and what it takes to produce things of quality. The most interesting, and perhaps unexpected part , is that it highlights the importance of making things to the maker. In that, it is more about a way or living - something very relevant to today. The sort of book you want to give to all of your friends - so that they can share the joy and wisdom.

One person found this helpful

TVR

Inspirational

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 23, 2014

Verified Purchase

What a great book. Peter says all those things I've had bottled up in my brain for a long time but was not good enough with words to convey. Having been a teacher of Craft design and Technology for many years and then owning my own carpentry business and making some bespoke furniture I really understand Peter's feelings and thoughts. I now work with young offenders helping them to enjoy the wonder of making things in wood.
I would recommend that all educationalists and those academics in Westminster read this book then perhaps we might readdress the lack of practical subjects being taught in our schools these days.
Trevor Hosken
Fleet Hants UK

14 people found this helpful

Dr Ting-Yu Lin

This book takes an intimate look at what craftsmanship is ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book takes an intimate look at what craftsmanship is all about.
Although the author specialises in the art of furniture-making, the principles and the thought processes he attempted to convey, based on his personal views/experiences, seem to be universal.
My only qualm would be his overuse of the word "narrative." After seeing it for the tenth time I started wondering when I was going to see it again, thus distracting me from the main task.
Other than that the book was a pleasure to read.

3 people found this helpful

Hyaku

An interesting biography.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 20, 2017

Verified Purchase

An interesting life story, but the title doesn't really indicate the exact contents of the text! You'll have a good idea at the end, but you'll need to read it all before you see why it matters!

David Lutkin

Two Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

It turned out to be more of an autobiography with some personal philosophies rather anything really interesting.

4 people found this helpful

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Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman Paperback – Illustrated, March 31 2015

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New England made from Godine Publisher

Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman

The Hand of the Small Town Builder: Vernacular Summer Architecture in New England, 1870-1935

Monadnock Summer: The Architectural Legacy of Dublin, New Hampshire

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About the author

Peter Korn

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